Being a Ward of Hogwarts
by dialarock
Summary: What happens when a runaway orphan from New York hops a plane to London and is caught using magic underage. She was using magic to steal money so she could survive when she gets caught by Professor Snape.One thing leads to another and Dumbledore decides to make her a ward of Hogwarts. Follow Lotus Lapis's adventure through her Hogwarts years. OC centric, same year as Harry
1. Chapter 1

Life's never been all that easy for me. Weird things just happen all the time and I got sick of fighting it so I just started to go with it and I learned how to control it, for the most part. I had even thought that I had perfected the art of going unnoticed when I was using what I would often refer to as my gift or curse depending on my mood. So how then did I end up in a room full of people that all seem to have these weird powers? How did I get magically transported from the busy street of London to a building entitled the "Ministry of Magic"? Well I'll have to start from the beginning.

I was left as a baby outside of an orphanage in the middle of New York City. I had a simple letter placed with me explaining my parents were dead and it had their names Sophia Glen and Luke Lapis. Interesting enough no matter how hard i looked I could never find anything on them. I however had no name but I had been given various names throughout my life but not a one meant anything to me so I almost always am referred to as child, or girl. The thing is I'm not normal and I learned that very early on, sometimes I wonder if that is why I was left, maybe they instantly knew I would be a freak. When I was younger there were countless families that would adopt me, I was an adorable little girl so I was often picked based on looks, it didn't matter though no matter how hard I would try I couldn't control all the weird things that were occurring so I eventually they would ship me back. I think the longest I was ever in a house was a month and a half when I was 6. But anyway this went on till I was 8 and I had just got sent back to the orphanage and decided I had had enough. I ran away the very same night.

I had nothing but the worn out clothes on my back. I ran for what felt like miles till I ended up at a busy street. I was scared but knew I needed to find a way to survive. I knew I had weird talents so I decided to learn to use them. I learned to do things that I hadn't even thought possible. It took months but if I could visually see something small like someone's wallet and I closed my eyes and concentrated hard enough I was able to make it appear in my pocket. I had already learned to pick pocket but I found it much easier to avoid getting caught if I didn't actually have to get too close to the person. I stole money for food but other than that I mostly just moved from street to street.

Anyhow the older I got the more magic I learned, well maybe that's exaggerating a little as the only things I could actually do(consciously) was make thing come to me or if I concentrated hard enough I could transport my body to other places. But anyway that's how I lived all the way till about a month from my twelfth birthday. I decided that I wanted to start a new chapter in my life and ditch all the crappy memories of my childhood so one day I went to the nearest airport and decided to escape. I found the first plane I could see into and I transported myself into the back with all of the luggage and made myself comfortable for the flight. I hadn't cared where I was going as long as it was someplace new, so anywhere. I landed in London and quickly exited the plane to explore.

The streets where as busy as I had ever seen them. I quickly realized that the money I have in U.S. dollars isn't going to work here so I look for those that I can see part of their wallets and will them to appear in front of me. I only take 20 from any wallets I get before making their wallets go back to where they came from. I hate that I have to steal but it's the only way I can survive as a kid. I figure by only taking a little from each person it makes it better than if I were to take a ton from a single person. I already have gotten sixty euros but figure I should go for a hundred just to be safe. I see a strange looking man in robes heading towards a bar called the Leaky Cauldron. He has a strange sort of appeal and I decide that I'll go for his wallet next; I follow behind him and notice he has a small bag that could perhaps be a coin purse. I focus on it and summon it to me and it plops in my hands. I open it up and see some weird sort of currency I can't identify. I'm so busy looking into it that I don't notice the man has walked up to me and grabbed my arm before hastily drawing me into the an alleyway before making us both appear in in a building entitled the Ministry of Magic.

I don't know what to do. I've never been caught and there was no way he should have noticed it disappearing, let alone that it was me who did it. I blink while looking around and realizing we are no longer on the street we had been on. Did he just make us reappear elsewhere? Is it possible he has powers like I do? He continues to drag me along and I silently follow. I feel as though it would be useless to try and run because he would likely catch me any way. As he pulls me along a bunch of hallways I take the chance to look at the man who grabbed me. He has black, somewhat greasy looking hair and a slightly crooked nose. His attire is odd though, but then again everyone I see in this building is dressed in these weird robes.

He opens a door to a room and pushes me inside with a muttered "stay put and don't even think about leaving this room." I sit down and wait for what feels like ages before a group of men come in including the one who had caught me. One walks up to me and introduces himself as a worker for the Ministry of Magic I have no clue what he is talking about but he continues to speak. "Whenever a witch or wizard is born in the area their name is written down by a magic quill that automatically signs them up for Hogwarts, a wizarding school. This is also how the ministry keeps track of all the children witches and wizards in the area." He looks at me as if he's waiting for me to respond but when I don't he simply begins to speak again.

"You have caused quite a disturbance, at the ministry we recorded many magical incident caused by a minor occurring. Every time someone underage uses magic in the muggle world we get a report on it. We hadn't sent anyone out to investigate it yet as it were just then occurring. When we got an angry message from Professor Snape about a young witch trying to steal from him on the street of London where the incidents had occurred we asked him to bring you here." He looks at me again as though I'm supposed to respond but I'm absorbing all he's saying and trying to put it all together. He must realize I'm not responding because once again he begins to speak. "Normally this would go with a reprimand on you as it is considered dangerous for someone who is still not above age and able to control their magic and be seen doing it outside of Hogwarts or their home if they live in the magical world. However we have no record of your birth, and we don't know who you are." He looks at me once again as if I am supposed to speak. When I don't he asks me what my name and age are but I simply stare into his eyes.

The man called Professor Snape steps up and states "If you refuse to speak there are other ways of getting answers. We will do a full medical scan first to determine your age and if you are still not willing to speak after that we can always simple enter your mind and find out." He turns and storms out of the room with his robe billowing. The other men left as well while a woman walks in the door. I stay calm on the outside but inside I was freaking out at the idea of someone entering my mind. Even though it scares me I still believe my best bet is just not talking. After all the only times I've talked in the past few years was when ordering fast food. I never have a reason to talk to people not to mention my social skills are quite lacking. I'm not exactly talkative and I'm certainly not talking to a bunch of people that had basically kidnapped me.

I'm pulled out of my thoughts when the woman speaks up introducing herself as a mediwitch. I assume that means she would be a medic with; my mind starts whirling about the fact that these people are calling themselves witches and wizards and how they had called me one to. I feel as if all the puzzle pieces of my weird powers coming together and I can feel inside of me that's what I truly am, a witch. The woman then pulls out a wooden stick that I assume is a magical wand and she instructs me to sit still. Seeing no point to refuse, I simply sit on the floor motionless. She takes a few moments before leaving me alone in the room again. Right as she's leaving she tells me that they will be back in in a few moments.

Alone in the room I stare at the door waiting for them to come back in the ministry man is there, the Professor and a man with a long white beard enters this time as well. The ministry man repeats to them everything the mediwitch must have found out. "She is a month away from being twelve and is a perfectly healthy with however we have no record of her and there is no possible match within our domain that could be her parents. The only logical explanation I can come up with is she recently moved into the area but I have checked everywhere and there is no record of her having entered the country." The man with the white beard walks up to me and sits down so he is almost eye level with me. "My name is Albus Dumbledore and who might you be?"

I stare into his eyes and refuse to speak. He continues on "As much as I would hate to do so, if you don't start responding Professor Snape here will have to go into your mind to get answers." I feel bad but I simply will not talk to them, I don't know them and If there's one thing I do know it's to never trust others, they will only use you. When I still don't answer Dumbledore sighs and stands up before motioning the Snape guy over. I decide that if he's going into my head that I can simply think of other things. I won't let him know anything I don't want him to. As Snape walks over I stand and look him defiantly in the eyes and decide exactly what I'm going to think about that will keep him from wanting to ever go into my head again. I smirk slightly when I feel something intruding in my head and I start to think up a vivid daydream about this Professor Snape making out with the Dumbledore guy and can tell it's stopped him in his tracks because he steps back from me as I feel him exiting my mind with a scowl on his face.

Everyone's eyes have turned on him as he continues to scowl and I try so hard to hold in the laughter but find I can't help it as I start laughing so hard I have to gasp to catch my breath. Everyone looks between me and Snape and as I catch my breath I murmur "I didn't quite like you intruding on my thoughts, but if you would like to see that again be my guest." I chuckle a little more at his look before deciding that there's truly no harm if I tell them anything. I then quietly continue before he can say what he saw "You guessed my age correctly and my 12th birthday happens to be next month on September 1st. I don't wish to share my name or anything about my deceased parents and I flew here from America in the back of a plane that I had snuck onto. As for being a healthy witch, I'll have to take your word for it as I didn't know what I was till you all said that. Is there anything else you wish to know?" I quickly add on "Or can I perhaps be on my way? I mean I technically only tried taking from Mr. Snape over there." I'm starting to get anxious over having all this happening plus I have no clue what they plan on doing to me after they caught me, I mean how was I supposed to know I would get caught by a wizard. I mean I hadn't even known they existed.

As I finish talking I realize that Professor Snape had come up behind me and I can feel him smacking my head with just enough force for it to hurt but not leave any damage. "Don't you dare think such things young lady, and had you simply stated that all at first there would have been no reason for me to intrude on your thoughts." I look up at him and can't help but snicker; to my surprise he swats me upside the head again. Dumbledore laughs heartily with a sparkle in his eyes at this interaction before making some chairs appear and telling us all to be seated. I look warily at the chair and don't move from my spot till Professor Snape pulled me by the arm and sat me down in a chair. Dumbledore claps his hands before saying "You've already figured this out but you are a witch and this would explain why you are able to do things such as your little trick of stealing Professor Snape's coin pouch. No you may not be on your way as you put it because we need to sort everything out. The ministry will no doubt also have to secure you a guardian as they are required to when a witch or wizard is left with no parents or currently assigned guardians. You will be trained as a witch at a school called Hogwarts where all the witches and wizards in the area go to learn magic. Children are admitted at eleven and this cutoff date just happens to be your birthday as it happens to fall on the first day of school. You will be either a year behind or if you could get ahead we could allow you to start as a second year. There is however an option for you to be assigned as a ward of Hogwarts meaning that all of the staff will be acting as your guardians. This is only done in special cases but I believe this would be beneficial especially when you seem to be able to not only control your magic but have learned some wandless and wordless magic that you can do with ease. You may not know it now but this is a very difficult task for someone so young, especially when they have never been taught magic. If you choose this option you will have your own room in the teacher's wing along with your dorm in whatever house you get sorted into. Either way you will be attending Hogwarts as that is where your guardian would be sending you for your schooling anyway."

He takes a breath before continuing "should you choose to be a ward of Hogwarts you will be treated as all the staffs' child and should you and a teacher gets particularly close they or you may talk to the other about them becoming your main guardian. Should you accept to be a ward of Hogwarts you will always have a place in the castle. This offer however is only available now; there is no backing out once you have said yes or no. I want you to understand that before you make a decision."

My head is recalling from all the information I've been given and I feel as though I can trust this man. But I can't help but feel doubt, all my life I've been on my son and the few people I had trusted had ended up causing more harm than good. I would be lying if I said I didn't want to go to this wizarding school but at the same time I don't like how it seems I'll be forced to go one way or another. I think over the options and I immediately cringe at the idea of having some guardian that's going to ship me off to school because of their duty, the years I was in the orphanage I saw what happened to any of the older kids. It was rare they were adopted and even then they were not truly happy because they would get a home with people that were only doing it out of duty or pity. I didn't want that. Either way I'm stuck going to this school. I mean I know nothing of this world and what a better way to learn. Not that I would admit that. I know I don't want the first option of getting assigned a guardian so I sigh before saying in a very quiet tone. "I understand and I would like to accept your offer to be a ward of Hogwarts."

Dumbledore smiles with a twinkle in his eyes before asking the guy that works at the ministry for the papers to make me a ward of Hogwarts. He then looks over at me before asking my name. In truth I don't really have a name but I look up and respond "Lotus Lapis." I had always thought the flower was pretty, so why not use it for a name. I also decided I would go by my supposed father's last name as then I have a last name. Dumbledore simply smiles and has a twinkle in his eyes at having heard my last name and hands me a quill and once the man from the ministry comes in with papers in hand. He quickly asks me to sign my name on the paper and once I do I realize that it glows gold after I sign. I step back a little in shock before Dumbledore explains it's to verify that I signed my own name of my own free will. He then signs the paper before happily stating I know a ward of Hogwarts. He then tells me That Professor Snape will be taking me to get a wand and robes. I simply nod as my voice had been starting to hurt so much from talking, I mean that was the most I've talked in years.

Lotus looks around in shock as she realizes that Professor Snape had taken and made them appear in an alley. It was the same as her disappearing and reappearing trick. She quickly looks up at the Professor and asks what he just did. He looks down at the little girl irritated before going into his explanation "That is what is known as Apparition, it allows a witch or wizard to transport from one location to another. A person visualizes where they want to go and then with extreme control and the power of their magic they are able to appear elsewhere."

Lotus looks up at his grumpy man and quickly removes her arm from the grip he had had it in since they left the ministry before saying "I can do that." Before Professor Snape can tell her only advanced wizards should be attempting it she is gone and then pokes him from the other side. Professor Snape almost immediately swatted her upside the head before telling her it's dangerous for someone so young. Although he secretly was wondering how such a young girl could have learned to apparate with no help, let alone the fact she hadn't even known she was a witch. He then grabs her arm as he begins to drag her towards a shop called Ollivanders. She starts to walk faster to match his longer strides until they are in the building.

An older man with pale silver eyes bounds towards us and I can't help but cringe slightly at his overly happy demeanor. He cheerfully proclaims, "Welcome to Ollivanders" He then looks up at Snape and seems shocked for a second as to why he would be bringing me for a wand. He was getting ready to ask about it when a glare from Snape made him reconsider. He then looks at me before asking "Which is your wand arm?" I can only assume he is asking which hand I use so I lift my left arm up instead of actually replying to the man. He starts to chatter as a measuring tape floats about measuring my arm. He then starts grabbing boxes before putting wand after wand in my hand instructing me to wave them. He seems to start getting frustrated as none of them seem to be giving the response he is looking for. He gets ready to go for another wand box but I reach out and grab the edge of his robe. I look up before asking "may I look for one?" He seems to be a little shocked by my request and I realize that it must be an unusual request. Before I can think more on it he responds with a cheerful grin "Be my guest"

I stepped behind the counter and walked through the aisles running my hand over boxes until I get to one that seems to be pushing against its box towards my hand. I pull out the box and walk back before handing it to Ollivander so he may take it out of the bow. He simply looks at it before stating "Eleven and a half inches, supple, made of yew and with a dragon's heartstring for a core." He then hands me the wand and I wave it just as I had for the other wands but this time it sparks and I watch them disappear. "He then goes on to describe the meanings of my wand and remarks about it being one of the easiest combinations for going towards the dark arts and I notice him glance at Snape while saying the last bit. Snape pays for the wand before sending me into a shop called Madam Malkin's saying I need a whole wardrobe. He then looks down at me telling me to stay here till my robes are done and that he will be back with my supplies when I'm done. He leaves and I'm ushered in by a kind looking lady who tries to chat me up as she works but I simply scowled until she gets the hint that I'm not interested in conversing. It takes about a half hour but she has all my things ready so all I can do is sit and wait. I gently look at my new wand and trace the spider web like pattern with my forefinger.

I sit there for what feels to be about an hour more before Snape returns. He simply collects my new clothes before motioning for me to follow him. I decide not to even bother asking any questions as he seems to be the type of man that would give me a snarky attitude if I bothered to ask. We walk down a hall before he takes hold of my shoulder and we aspartate to a village entitled Hogsmeade. He then starts to follow a path that seems to lead to a giant castle. I hide my shock at looking at such a grand building by keeping my expression stoic and calm. Once arriving we enter and I have all I can do to hide my shock at the mere view. The halls are beautiful and every way I look is like straight out of a story book. I follow after Snape as he walks down the corridors until we reach what seems to be a dead end. He finally speaks to inform me this is the entrance to the teachers common room, inside is what you could think of as an equivalent of a staff room. All of the professor's rooms are connected to the common room and the castle has made a new room for you that is also connected to the staff room. Later on should you get a specific guardian the castle will rearrange itself so that your room is also connected to theirs. Now I'm going to show you this once so you best pay attention" He takes out his wand and gently taps three times in a row before muttering open. The wall seems to rearranging itself into an ornate door and he opens it and we walk inside. It's a beautiful room with a high ceiling and some chandeliers up high. The room itself is circular and each corner seems to be decorated differently with the Hogwarts crest on the floor in the middle. There are plush couches and tables as well as a fire place on the side opposite the door we just entered from.

He points at a door in between the emerald green and silver set up and the blue and bronze set up before telling me that it was the entrance to my room. He then continues on informing me, "As tomorrow is August first all of the professors shall be arriving, every year the professors come early for lesson plans, gathering materials needed for the year and so on. As you are going to be a ward of Hogwarts it shall be announced to all the professors at dinner tomorrow followed by introductions. As such we will be sitting down to come up with the rules for this arrangement. Basically you will learn what is acceptable and what is not. Until then you are expected to stay in your room. A house elf will bring you your meals until dinner and then Headmaster Dumbledore will bring you to dinner. All of your school supplies and clothing is in your room so you can unpack to stay busy or you could always read one of your textbooks." My head is swimming with questions but I know better than to ask. Instead I start to make a mental list for when the headmaster comes to collect me tomorrow. Questions like, what is a house elf, what classes do you take as a witch, Where exactly are we, what's with all the different houses and so on. I'm pulled out of my thoughts as Snape sneers while telling me I am wasting his time and to go to my room. I simply walk to the door he pointed and enter.

When I get inside I'm shocked to see that it is not only a room, no I have my own little sitting area with a couch and table along with a bookshelf along the wall. Next is my actual bedroom that has a four poster bed, a desk, a couple more bookshelves, a trunk and a wardrobe for my clothes. Nest is a bathroom with a small bath and shower, a toilet and a sink with a mirror hanging above it. I'm in awe at everything. I have slept on the streets ever since I ran away from the orphanage and the idea of sleeping on a bed, bathing and just having my own room are so foreign that I am almost moved to tears. I quickly strip out of my dirty and battered jeans and t-shirt and hop in the shower. I grab the shampoo and lather my long dirty blond hair and begin to wash it before following up with the conditioner. I then get the body wash out and scrub off as much dirt as possible before putting the plug in to take a bath now that I know I won't be soaking in my own filth. I look down at my slight frame and wince at how much my ribs are poking out, I knew I didn't eat much but it kind of scares me to actually see my ribs. After an hour I hop out and go and look in the wardrobe to see all my new clothes. I grab what appears to be some casual robes and quickly dress myself before heading out to my new sitting room. I look at the table to see a pile of all my school supplies and decide to go about organizing them before going to bed.

I start sifting through the pile and internally groan at how much there is before realizing it's all the materials for a first and second year student, I suppose they plan on starting me off in the second year with those my age assuming I can catch up. The first subject I start to look at is called Defense Against the Dark Arts. Upon looking at the title I remember the man who sold me my wand had said my wand would be suited for dark arts and their defense. I read the back of the book quickly to learn that the class teaches us to protect ourselves from what's considered to be dark magic as well as teaching us hexes, dueling shields and more. I start a pile for this class and put my two books for it along with what looks to be a wand holster for holding my wand in a pile before continuing on. The next class I look at is Astronomy. It appears lessons are spent learning the names of stars and the movements of planets. I'm slightly shocked by this as I know it is something that everyday people study as well. I can't help but be a little happy that from years of sleeping on the street had caused me to like star gazing so I had read quite a few books on them over the years in public libraries. This class should be relatively easy. I make a pile for astronomy as well as I places a text book and some star maps in a pile with a small telescope. I continue looking through the pile and next look at is called Charms. It is obviously all about learning charms as well as learning proper wand movements and pronunciation. I pile the two textbooks up before moving onto the next subject. It's called Transfiguration and the back of the book simply says "the art of changing the form and appearance of an object." I look at the first couple pages to see what this means and I understand it better when I see and image of a witch turning a matchstick to a needle. I place the textbooks in yet another pile before sighing wondering how many more classes I would have. It's not the fact I have to take so many classes that bothers me it's the fact I know I will most likely be behind my classmates. I resolve myself to spend every moment practicing until school starts so that no one can think me inferior.

I continue to sort through my supplies and look next at a book entitled Magical Theory. I look at the back and am delighted to see it is a class only taken by first years so I know once I finish I won't have to worry about taking it this year. The class itself seems to teach solely about the theories of magic. I gently put the book aside before moving onto the History Books. The class of History of Magic seems to basically be the same as a normal history class but based on magical events and not muggle ones. I once again return to the pile and noticed a small pamphlet. It depicts a young boy riding on a broom. I open it up to see basic instructions on how to fly a broom along with the information that it is a first year class that is taught to show people the proper way to fly. I look at it slightly shocked and scared. I am terrified by heights. The only reason I survived the flight to London was because I slept through it. I set the pamphlet aside and decide I will simply ignore it for now. I continue on to notice there are only to different classes materials. First I look through a book for Herbology and realize it's basically gardening insane plants. I can already tell this subject won't be my best. I set the book aside with the dragon hide gloves for gardening. Last But not least are two potion books, a cauldron, a stirring rod and a potions kit filled with ingredients. I had purposely saved this class for last as I just know I was going to love it. It didn't require a wand and it could be just as deadly. I could learn to make all sorts of potions from one's to heal to ones that harm. The possibilities were endless.

After looking at all my piles I arranged everything onto the bookshelf in the sitting room before looking around for a clock. I found one above the entrance to the bedroom and was shocked to see it was three in the morning. I quickly hop up and go to bed as I have no clue what the morning will have in store.

Snape

After taking the girl out to get supplies Severus was shocked to put it lightly, he had already seen her do wandless wordless magic when she took my money but being able to apparate with no training. It's unheard of. Not to mention her last name, Luke Lapis was the last of the Lapis's and he had died along with his sweetheart Sophia Glen. They both had been purebloods and in the Dark Lords ranks before running for it. They hadn't had a daughter, but yet she looks just like her parents with her dirty blond hair and her deep blue eyes. He quickly did the math in his head before realizing the math added up if she had been born about a week before they were captured. They had to have gotten rid of her before capture.

Severus looked at the gargoyle before him before biting out "Lemon drop". He then stepped onto the spiral stairs to meet with Albus. When he arrived Albus simply motioned a chair as severus sat. "The girl's last name would imply she is Luke Lapis's daughter and the only possible way that is so is if he and Sophia Glen had hid her before being captured and killed. A simple test and we will know for sure." Albus simply nodded and added "I already had her magic signature tested and she is indeed their child however they where both the last in their lines so she will be inheriting both families vault at seventeen. She is a pureblood that lived on muggle streets for years, she has no close relatives as she is the last of her line so she shall remain a wad of Hogwarts. We do need to find out however how she was able to use her magic so easily when she had no idea that she was even a witch." Severus quickly interjected "That's not all she was able to do, when we went to get her supplies I had apparated her to the alley. She seemed surprised by this before removing her arm from my hold and remarking she could do that. Before I could stop her she apparated directly behind me and poked me. She did it completely intact and by the ease she did it she has obviously done it before."

Albus had a twinkle in his eyes as he scratched his beard saying "curious indeed." Perhaps she will be able to catch up to her year, I assume that's why you choose to get everything for first and second years for her. As discussed before hand I will be collecting her for dinner tomorrow. I have already informed all the staff that we would be eating in the common room as a whole. I will talk to her tomorrow but I would like you to make sure all the staff is there on time and not dawdling around." Severus simply nodded before leaving the room.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun streamed in through the curtains and I groaned slightly before rolling out of bed. It takes me a few seconds to realize where I am and the events of the previous day come crashing down on me. I am a witch and I'm going to a magical school. I can't help but smile even though I had only been to school up until I was eight and had run away. I get up and go look at the clock to see it is seven thirty and decide I ought to look over my school stuff so that I can try and catch up. I decide I'll go in alphabetical order so I grab the Astronomy books and star charts. I poor through the book and chart and find that I already know all the required stars and can identify them and their constellations. Star gazing has really paid off. I spend about a half hour refreshing and then close the book putting it away. No sooner than I put the book away a small elf like creature appears with a tray of breakfast foods. I think back to yesterday and realize that this must be a house elf.

I look at them as they place the tray down saying they got food for the young mistress. I am slightly puzzled by this but decide they would be easier to ask questions to that Professor Snape. I gently speak to the house elf "My name is Lotus, what is yours?" The house elf looks a little surprised but then responds back "Slippy, Young mistress" I then continue on "I'm new here and I was wondering if I may ask you a few questions." The elf nods its head up and down eagerly saying "Slippy is very helpful, Slippy can answer questions". I decide to start off with "What exactly is a house elf and what do you do?" Slippy responded "Slippy and other house elves live to serve our masters; we can do almost anything if it pleases our masters." I nod at this before continuing "What exactly are the four different houses?" Slippy quickly answers "Students are separated into houses based on personality and traits; they then compete with other house to win points for the house cup." I decide not to ask too much at once so I thank Slippy for the meal and she promptly leaves. I finish the food before going back to my books.

Since I think I have a grasp on most of the Astronomy stuff I decide to move on to Charms. I opened the book and the first thing that caught my eyes was a spell called leviosa. It would make things levitate. I took out my wand and pointed at the book saying leviosa and I watched as the book shakily floated in the air. I then gently made it land and started to jump around in glee as I realized that I could truly do magic. I realize how stupid I was being at such a little thing and sat back down before I would make a fool of myself. Sure no one is here but I would die of embarrassment if anyone ever saw me like that. I look up at the clock to see it's already eleven so I decide to start just skimming the stuff to get the jist of things before dinner. I open up the Defense against the dark arts book and realize that first years are mainly reading and learning materials and I already know it would be pointless to try the spells with no one to tell me if I did it right or not. Next up alphabetically would be the flying pamphlet but I simply skip it. I skim the Herbology textbook and realize it's all about taking care of certain plants so I set it aside to read later. History of Magic's textbook is also set aside to read later and I was getting ready to move on until Slippy appeared once again with a tray of food. I thank Slippy again and she disappears. I look down in surprise and realize it's a sandwich and somehow it was made just how I like it right down to the ton of jalapenos on it. I make a mental note to ask how Slippy knew what I liked to eat.

I once again move back to my work as I eat. It's already twelve thirty and I want a chance to look over the last three subjects before dinner. I open up Magical theory to realize all it is reading so I set it aside with the others I plan to read from latter. Potions are next alphabetically but I want to save that for last so I can spend the most time on it. I open up the transfiguration book and a matchstick falls out and I read the section on it before trying to turn it into a needle. I try my hardest but only manage to turn it grey and hard, I hadn't been able to change the shape. I can feel it straining me to try and use this much magic so I stop and look at the clock once more. It was already two and I had no clue what time dinner would be so I decide to just look through everything for Potions until then.

I open up the book and start reading about a plant called Aconite. I grab some parchment and an ink bottle and quill from the pile of things and decide to take notes. Aconite is also known as monkshood and wolfsbane. The leaves are extremely toxic while the flowers are extremely useful in potion making. The roots are also helpful in potion making. One of the most known uses of Aconite is in a Wolfsbane potion. I decide to try and find out more on this potion so I flip through the text book only to find a few things out. One of those things was that it is a potion to alleviate the effects of lycanthropy. It does not cure it but if taken every day for a week before the full moon it allows the werewolf to keep their sanity while transformed. I realize with shock that not only witches and wizards are real but werewolves as well. Then there's house elf's and probably so many more things I haven't even learned about. I continue reading with renewed vigor at the realization of how amazing all of this is. I also learned that the Wolfsbane Potion tastes disgusting and that nothing can be done about it because adding sugar negates the effects. I also found out the finished potion has a light blue smoke and that it can be extremely dangerous if brewed wrong because of the toxicity of Aconite. I turn back to the page on Aconite and continue reading it to find out it is also used in the Awakening potion also known as the Wideye potion. This potion prevents a person from falling asleep and can be used to wake one up from slumber or concussions. This potion is used as an antidote to the Draught of the Living Death. Draught of the living Death is used to put someone into a deep indefinite sleep. It is extremely hard to brew just as all the previous potions mentioned. I look over the information before realizing the only things I needed to know was the use of the Aconite and that it is the same thing as wolfsbane and monkshood. I just couldn't help myself though it was just so interesting I had to keep reading. I already know this will be my favorite subject and can't wait to actually learn to brew. I'm pulled out of my thoughts as there is a gentle knock on the door before I quickly stand to go open it.

As I open the door I notice it is the man with the long white beard, Headmaster Dumbledore if I remember correctly. He has a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes as he asks if he can come in. I nod quickly before allowing him in and heading back to my seat at the table. I blush slightly at the fact that the table is covered with my notes and the opened potions book. I should have picked it up or been neater. I quickly glance at the clock and see that it is a quarter to five. Dumbledore smiles at me before asking how I am adjusting. I respond back with as little words as possible but still enough to avoid asking for clarification "I'm still a little shocked at the events but have seemed to transition quite well. I already have looked over all my classes and have taken an interest in a few."

Dumbledore nods and says "Ms. Lapis I know you had lived in an orphanage and then on the streets but are you at all aware of who your parents were." I look up and nod slightly before saying the names I had only ever seen on paper "Sophia Glen and Luke Lapis "The headmaster then asks me if I would be prepared to hear about them and I nod my head once more, I never knew them and I had long since stopped caring who they were but I couldn't help the curiosity. The headmaster then goes on to say "Both of your parents were pure blooded wizards making you a pureblood as well. Some people are very prejudiced against those that are not and have muggle blood. Your parents were part of a group called Death Eaters and they followed a man named Lord Voldemort. They persecuted those that were not pure blooded and committed many atrocious acts including murder. Your parents latter turned to the side of the light by trying to flee, in that time you were born. They hid you but were later captured and killed by Lord Voldemort. They were both the last of their line and as such you have inherited both of their vaults, those are basically what you would know as bank accounts. As they were both the last of their lines however you have no living relatives so you shall still remain a ward of Hogwarts." He takes a breath before finishing with "In order for this to work we will need honesty between you and the staff that will be acting as your guardians, I have been honest with you and told you everything I know and I ask that you return that kindness by always being honest with us. Understand?" I nod my head and Say "Of course" followed by a quiet "Thank you for telling me."

Dumbledore then looks at the time and says Dinner will be served in just a few minutes and you shall meet the rest of the staff." He gets up and motions for me to follow him into the common room. All around seated is those I can only assume are the professors at Hogwarts. All of them go silent as they see me following Dumbledore out into the common room. The headmaster doesn't even seem to notice though as he merrily claps his hands before saying "As you can all see we have a guest for dinner today" With a twinkle in his eyes he continued on "Well not so much a guest as a new resident. As many of you know it has been years since there was a ward of Hogwarts. Well this is no longer the case. I would like to introduce you to Lotus Lapis." Hushed murmurs traveled through the crowd as I stood next to the Headmaster.

After a minute Dumbledore got everyone's attention once more. "I would like us all to introduce ourselves to Ms. Lapis and she will do the same as well. Now let's see when you introduce yourself say your name, position and if you wish a fact about yourself." Dumbledore then turned to me smiling brightly as he says "My name is Albus Dumbledore and as you already know I am the Headmaster, One interesting thing about me is that my familiar Fawkes is a Phoenix." He then looked around the room expectantly as other professors followed his lead. All of the professors took their turn and I was starting to have a hard time remembering who was who. Dumbledore then looked at me before telling me to say a little about myself. I decide to be short and sweet so I state "I am Lotus Lapis and I only just found out I was a witch when I happened to be caught doing magi after arriving in London from my aeroplane flight." The headmaster then informs everyone that I will be catching up all of the first year classes so that I may start the year as a second year, where I would have been had I came to London a year earlier. He informs everyone that a schedule will be made with all the times I will meet up with professors after everyone has a meeting together on what the rules and expectations will be for me as a ward of Hogwarts. Dumbledore then claps his hands as trays of food appear on everyone's lap. He then says in a jolly tone "Now that that's out of the way let us eating."

I sat down in a seat next to Dumbledore when he motioned for me to sit. The table then filled with a couple of the more curious professors. They sat around and talked about their summers, students and new curriculum. One man however seemed to be getting on most of the other professors nerves. His name was Gilderoy Lockhart and he was annoyingly loud and boasted of a great many adventures. I may not know a lot about this new world I've found myself in but know no one could have done as much as he says because all of the skills he boasted of where on completely different sides of the spectrum. Not to mention he was a terrible liar and on his more exuberant tails he would almost always be tracing small circles on his palm. Judging by the other professor's reactions they were also aware that this man was spouting pure nonsense. From what I could gather from the conversation he was a new teacher this year and I couldn't help but wonder why they couldn't get one better than this annoying man.

I spoke up for the first time since dinner started to talk to the man who's voice was beginning to grate on my nerves. "Professor Lockhart you are simply outstanding, If only every wizard was amazing as you are." I start it out as pure flattery and this surprises almost everyone at the table that these would be the first things I have voluntarily said. The professor seems to have fallen for it though as he begins to speak "Alas dear child there can only be one wizard of my caliper" I quickly interject "Professor Lockhart It's my understanding you are the new DADA professor and not the charms professor it would be an honor if you could tell me a simple spell, I know I will not be able to get it right away as I am no doubt nowhere near as great a wizard as you were at my age but could you perhaps tell me the word to a simple charm, perhaps one that silences those it is cast upon?" Nearly all the professors are looking on curiously at the exchange and I can't help but notice that Professor Snape has a slight smirk as though he knows what I am doing. Professor Lockhart beams as he goes on "There is a silencing charm but it is extremely advanced magic for one your age, but I suppose I could tell you about it, I would hate to disappoint a fan. The word one must use is silencio while pointing their wand at the intended target. If done correctly it leaves the target temporarily mute."

I realize the best way to get this to work is to continue flattering him. "Oh my, that sounds so hard but I bet you do it with ease. I wish I could be as great as you, W-would you allow me the honor of trying to cast this charm on you? I know I'll likely fail since I'm not a prodigy like you were but it would be such an honor." He easily takes the bait by saying "This is a difficult charm for even some 5th years let alone a witch who just found out what she was but I suppose I could take you under my wing and allow you to try it out on me" I gently take out my wand and remember what it had felt like to do magic earlier and how that when I knew I would make the book float it had been so much easier. I take my wand out and use as much magic as I can muster before pointing my wand at the annoying man and saying "Silencio" without a single doubt in my mind that it would work. Lockhart simply looks at me before getting ready to tell me some drivel about how not everyone can be like him but to the surprise of almost half the table not a word comes out.

Professor Snape's smirk seems to grow slightly at the fact I had actually pulled it off and I smiled before announcing to the table in a barely veiled sarcasm that I knew Professor Lockhart wouldn't be able to pick up on "It's such a shame we won't be able to hear anymore of Professor Lockhart's stories, he must have been such a great teacher that I was able to pull that off" A few of the professors laughed as they realized that I had only been trying to shut him up discreetly. I suddenly am caught off guard by how exhausted I feel after casting such an intense spell. I nearly pass out but manage to stay seated while slowly finishing my meal. It must be from all of the stuff I had been doing. After I had learned my disappearing trick, no apparating, it got easier with practice but the first few times I had passed out shortly after along with bouts of nausea so I should have expected it but it still didn't help matters.

I gain back a little energy from the meal and am delighted my charm is still in effect for during the meeting on the rules and expectations I will have to follow. Everyone's trays are banished and Dumbledore once again stand up asking what rules anyone thinks should be applied. By the end of it they had basically said all the school rules plus a few other expectations they expected me to follow. These included that all Homework I have needs to be done in advance and that I should have one of the teachers look it over so I can make corrections before turning it in. Another was that they expected me to have at least an hour's worth of studying in the teacher's common room every day so that they know I am actually doing it. They also said that over holidays when students are allowed to go home that if I wish I may bring my friends into my room assuming I ask for permission first. They had been clear that unless given permission I should never be allowing other students into the common room and that when I do have permission I must not let them see the password. It was also decided that while in the common room I may call the professors by their actual name or last name depending on their preference and that I don't need to call them professor while in the common room, in class and such I still had to but not in the more casual social settings. The last but most important rule they gave was that if one of them asked me to do something within reason it was expected I would do it and be respectful. Overall I had no objections to any of the rules other than the fact that I would have so many people I would have to listen to.

Dumbledore then went onto what should be done if I break any rules and he began by asking me what I thought appropriate punishments would be. I sat and thank about it for a few minutes and began with "For something that's not as serious and is more related to something done at school I think I should simply get the detention I would get if I were just another student, however if it is not as minor I would say go ahead and ground me to where all I can really do is stay in my dorm room, library, this common room or my room here or simply shorten my time to hang out with friends by saying I have to be in my room by a certain time. For anything that is bigger you could always ground me to staying in my room here and not going to my dorm in whichever house I am placed while also banning me from things that are not school related." Dumbledore and the majority of the other teachers look surprised by the fact I was willing to come up with my own punishments without trying to cheat my way out by saying something easy that wouldn't actually bother me. He then looks at the other professors asking if everyone agreed to the listed punishments. Everyone agrees although they added to it that should something be proving ineffective they could modify the punishment. I had no problems with it and was starting to have a hard time staying awake. I had used a ton of energy casting that spell and now it was truly starting to get to me without having more food to snack on.

Dumbledore then dismissed all the professors that wouldn't need to help me catch up as they planned out when I would be meeting up with whom. I started to zone out as my vision blurred and I finally passed out from the exhaustion and from all the energy that was drained from that spell earlier.

Dumbledore

As we moved onto scheduling for the month before school to catch Lotus up I can't help but smile as I see her getting ready to pass out from over exerting herself. It's not very often such a young witch can cast a spell like that let alone stay awake throughout the last of dinner and her new rules. I'll have to make sure we don't plan anything tomorrow morning as she's likely to sleep till lunch. After she has fallen asleep I inform all of the staff to her situation in more detail so that there will be no confusion.

After all is said and done all of the professors had taken out their first year syllabuses, course work and notes on what exactly is said in lectures and then piled them together. They each gave a list of times they would be available for help if she came to see them. They also made adjustments to their syllabuses so that if she followed them every day she would manage to finish the courses three days before school starts back up. They also left instructions on where to leave the homework assignments to be graded. All and all it had been a very productive night. With that he dismissed all the teachers.

Dumbledore took out his wand and organized everything based on classes and levitated it to her bedroom and on her desk. He however had also added Hogwarts a History to the pile with a note saying if she wished to know more about the school that the book would be a good place to start. He also added the direction to the library on the note so that if she needed anything for researching her assignments. As he came back out to pick up the girl to place her in bed he was surprised to see Severus had already levitated her to bring her to bed. He raises his eyebrow at Severus and he states with a scowl "It's simply my way of thanks for getting that bumbling dunderhead of a professor to shut up." With a twinkle in his eyes Dumbledore left the common room to head to his own room that was connected to his office.


	3. Chapter 3

My head is pounding and my throat feels drier than a desert. I groggily open my eyes as i roll out of bed. I notice I'm still in the same clothes as yesterday so I stand and go hop it the shower. As the water cascades down my body I smirk slightly at the fact I had tricked the annoying professor. I'm pulled out of this realization when I realize I had fallen asleep in the common room. Who had taken me to bed? I decide not to dwell on it as I turn the taps off and hop out before quickly getting changed. I head out into my room feeling slightly better and look at the clock. I'm shocked to see it's already past twelve thirty. I also happen to notice the feignt smell of grilled cheese and tomato soup and see a tray resting on my night stand. I look at the food but I'm not really all that hungry. I mean the last few years i normally only ate once a day whereas yesterday I had had three full meals. I decide to take a couple bites before stopping. I decide to try only doing a little bit of food at each meal so that my stomach doesn't protest too much.

I get up and look at my desk in my room to notice a pile of papers. There is a first year syllabus for each of the classes along with the assignments and a chart saying when each assignment was due. I notice that it's set up so that all of my last assignments are due a few days before school starts up. I then look over the syllabuses and notice that had I actually been taking the classes most assignments were assigned a week or at least a few days before it was due. This made me smile as I now know that if I end up needing help throughout next year I can get it before the assignments are due. Overall most of the stuff didn't look to hard but I notice next to the chart of due dates is a list of times the professors are available should I need help.

After looking through everything I decide to get everything due tommorow done and then work ahead in Magical theory as it's the only class that is dropped from first to second year as it is not one of the seven core classes. I figure if I can keep up with all the assignments on each class but then focus on individual classes to finish I will be able to get done ahead of schedule and be able to look at the second year material before school starts. I start working on all of my assignments and am able to finish with all the homework due by the end of tomorrow shortly after five forty five. When I had started Magical Theory to my surprise it was a class with no homeworks and was basically a huge packet you had to fill in blanks with information from the textbook. It's class was until the student finished the packet and then they could use whatever time is left the rest of the year with it as a study hall. This made me so happy I had taken and done the whole packet as it was mostly just copying information over. I take all my assignments and stand as I walk out into the teachers common room with my list of teachers and due dates. I had already memorized who taught what but had had a hard time correlating names and faces so I decided to start out by going to those that I had remembered from last night. Even though they had said I could forgo the professor title I decided to wait till the individual professors tell me to. I look out around the room.

The easiest to spot happened to be professor Snape who was sitting alone at a table with what looked to be a syllabus for a higher level class that he was revising. I walked over without making a sound and gently pulled out a chair and sat while waiting for him to finish what he was doing. After a few minutes he put down his quill and asked in what sounded to be annoyed at me having bothered him "And what exactly can I do for you Ms. Lapis?" I pulled out my essay on cauldrons and slipped it over the desk to him. "I finished early and was wondering if you would like to go over it." He summons a bottle of red ink and begins to read. The assignment had had to be at least two feet long and had taken a considerable amount of time to complete. I had finished with two feet and ten inches because I ended up really enjoying the topic. I mean pewter, brass, and copper are only a few of the types of caldrons and they only took up a foot without repeating what I had already said in different words. As such I talked about advances such as the collapsible cauldron or about the fool Humphrey Belcher who thought there should be a cauldron made of cheese. I wait nervously as he looks over my paper and am surprised when he opens his bottle of ink and instead of marking the paper redder than an apple but instead puts a simple O at the top. I have no clue what an O is supposed to mean but Snape sneers a little before saying "Your handwriting is atrocious but your work was decent." I can't help but smirk slightly at this because I feel like that's the closest he will come to complimenting someone so I thank him and stand up getting ready to search for another professor.

I decide to next look for the ghost Professor of History of Magic as he would be one of the easiest to recognize. I see the ghost Professor Binns and I walk over with my six inch paragraph on the Gargoyle Strike of 1911. It was basically a strike the gargoyles, magical statues in this instance, went on when they felt they were not getting treated properly as they often were not cleaned regularly. As I make my way over I can tell by his demeanor that most students don't take much of an interest in his course and it makes me feel bad for him, not that I would ever admit it. I don't want anyone thinking I'm some softie. Having taught so many years he looks up when he's aware a student is approaching him. I try to put on as much cheer as I can, so a smile rather than my normal smirk, and hand him my paragraph while saying "The lecture notes were interesting and I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if this strike hadn't occurred." This made the man who looked to normally be less than animated go into a full on discussion about all the possibilities. This seemed to shock a few of the other professors and I heard one whisper to another "He's never been this openly passionate about a topic, even when I had him as a professor." Overall that made me happy to know I had made him feel alive as we then proceeded to have an hour long conversation on all the different possible scenarios. Throughout the conversation I asked quite a few questions when he would mention terms I didn't understand and he would explain them before moving on. In the end I also learned he taught, well more like supervised, the Magical Theory class so I gave him my completed packet which made him smile while talking about how most students took most of the year to do it cause they didn't want to do the reading. I noded slightly about to leave before I decided since I've already seemed to gotten on his good side he would likely answer my question "I was wondering what exactly the grading system is here at hogwarts?" Binns, he had already told me I could drop the Professor prefix, told me that there was three possible passing grades and three possible failing grades. "In order of best to worst is O for Outstanding, E for Exceeds Expectations, A for Acceptable,keep in mind we're moving into failing grades now, P for Poor, D for Dreadful, and T for Troll." After he explained the grading system to me I wished him a good night as I looked at the clock. It was already eight but I decided I would see one last professor for the night.

I decided I would go to the Astronomy professor as it's at night you see the stars so they are most likely to be staying up later anyway. I look down to my syllabus to see the name Aurora Sinistra. I vaguely remember her as the dark skinned witch I had met the night before. I looked down at my chart of when I could go see professors and noticed under her name was a note saying that if I need anything or to look at the stars that she will be available every night from eight thirty to midnight should I wish to join her in star gazing. It said to head to the astronomy tower along with a little map so I exited the common room and followed it to the tower. I took me an hour to finally arrive there because I could have sworn I was following the directions and the castle would move on me. I ignored it though as I knocked before being allowed in. I had looked over the syllabus and was glad to see most of the first year was just watching stars and memorizing their names, in fact the only assignment was the final with a note to see her whenever I wished to take it. All it is is a star chart that says when I take it some of the stars will be missing and I need to place them along with their names. The rest would already be there with there names and you are even given a word bank for the missing stars names. She greeted me with a "Welcome I am Aurora Sinistra dear and as you are now a ward of Hogwarts feel free to call me Aurora" She said with a merry wink. I greeted her back and she asked me what I thought of her subject. I had responded back with how I had stargazed a lot the past few years and that I already knew all the stars required by a first year. She looked a bit skeptical as she asked "Is that so?" She then instructs me to take out my final and that if I can pass it with an O she will use it as my grade but if not I would have to plan out twice a week that I would meet up with her and that if I were to fail this test not to worry as she would let me take it again at the end of the month. It infuriated me that she didn't quite believe me so I decided right here and now I would get that O. I took out the final and she took it and cast a spell to make the actual test appear and not just a sample one. I set to work and shortly after midnight I had a triumphant smile as she looked in shock at my perfect test. I didn't even get one wrong. She then smiled brightly at me as she gushed at getting a student that had already had an interest in the subject before having to learn it. We then walked back to the common rooms together and before she wished me goodnight I asked her if it would be okay for me to join here at the astronomy tower on nights when I couldn't sleep. She seemed to enjoy the idea and agreed as we went our separate ways to our own rooms

That night I slept like a baby. I woke up the next morning and rolled out of bed before following my usual routine. I glanced at a tray of breakfast that was left for me while in the shower and realize I had forgotten to eat last night. I decide not to worry about it and just grab a pear before doing all my work for tomorrow. I still need to go check with the teachers I didn't see yesterday for the homework due today but on the plus side yesterday I was able to knock out two of the first year classes meaning I only had to catch up in six more before the start of the year, well not including flying. I plan on leaving that aside for as long as possible. Overall I decided to get into a routine. Every morning I would complete the work and then from lunch to dinner I would work ahead and then at night I would meet with Professors. Just as I finished planning that out Slippy appeared. "Slippy noticed you don't eat much food, Is food bad?" I look up surprised before telling the elf I just don't eat much. Slippy nods but looks at me worriedly. I accepted the lunch she had made before she apparated away. I quickly eat and go straight back to work, I mean I really want to catch up. After dinner I headed out and turned my assignments to teachers I had already talked to then moved on to those I had yet to meet one on one with.

I decided to get the annoying man that somehow was able to get a job teaching DADA out of the way. I had no clue how as my syllabus, if you could even call it that, for his class was a paper saying to write a five foot paper on his adventures and life. It had absolutely nothing to do with defending one's self from the dark arts and it so happened the books he assigned where worthless as all they seemed to be were bold faced lies. I was glad that when Professor Snape had gotten my books he got me two that were not on the list. I had read from the first year one to get an overview of the actual topic while skimming Lockhart's books for things to use before writing five feet of praise towards Lockhart and how "amazing" he is. I handed it to Lockhart and was getting ready to leave before he insisted I stay for him to read it. He easily fell for the praises and I got an easy E but he said I could have gotten an O If I had mentioned his spirit animal. As soon as I could I got up and left the irksome man to go find the three other teachers I still haven't met with.

A rather short man called me over to the table he's sitting at and asks me how I'm coming on my charms work. I instantly recognize him as professor Flitwick. I show the man the Levitation charm by making the table along with his chair float in the air, turn in a full circle and the placing it back down exactly where it was. I then light the type of my wand saying lumos and then point directly at the ceiling and mutter lumos solem creating a narrow beam of light from my wand to the ceiling. I pant slightly at the effort and smile at the professor "Did I do it all right?" He smiles and nods before adding "You might want to try not to mutter but other than that it was excellent" As I finish talking another professor walks up saying "That will come in handy if you ever encounter a Devil's Snare. I nod as I recognize it as professor Sprout, the herbology professor. I grabbed out my essay on various plants and handed it to her. I however didn't stay to chat as I had to rush off to the last professor to turn in my work before retiring to bed for the night. I grabbed out my matchstick and headed off to the stern looking transfiguration professor. I showed her my progress on the matchstic that looked almost like a needle but without the pointy end. She gives me some tips before bidding me a goodnight.

The days flew by until finally it was 5 days until the start of the new school year and I had managed to catch up in all of my classes. In fact the headmaster even gave me a little card with what my grades in all of them had been. I had O's in Potions, Magical Theory, History of Magic, Astronomy and to my surprise Charms which I had been expecting an E in. I did however get E's in DADA, Herbology, and Transfiguration. Herbology I had just barely scraped an E in as I was terrible working with the plants. It turned out that you don't actually get a grade for flying but after Albus asked me why I was avoiding it he set up an evening tonight were several teachers themselves would be flying and playing a mock game of Quidditch, which I learned was an odd game played on brooms that was supposedly the biggest wizarding sport ever. After he found out my fear of height he had used the idea of several others flying at the same time to help me relax because if I feel of one would be bound to catch me. I was still really nervous but knew I would have to do it sooner or later. As I was getting ready for it I got dinner and then went out and sat next to the moody often acted irritated with me but most of the time it was just his personality so I didn't take it harshly.

After a few Brewing sessions for his class we had came to a tentative dare I say it freindship. I had been making a potion that need the juice from a bean and the book said to cut it and let the juice drip into the potion. It had said to get as much juice out of the beans as possible and I had started ranting about how only a fool would cut the bean to get the juices out as I crushed it getting more juice out that if I had followed the nonsense and cut it. After that I had even convinced him to let me help him brew the infarmeries supply of potions. For the most part all I had done was prepare ingredients but none the less I was grateful for the experience. I got back to my meal while asking Severus if he was going to be flying tonight. He merely scoffed at the idea saying "I am far too busy to go riding around on a broom like an over excited hufflepuff." I couldn't help but laugh at this as I finished my meal and headed back to my room to grab a hair tie for while I was flying.I then walked out of my room and headed down to the pitch to see several teachers milling about with an excited Dumbledore . He quickly showed me how to mount my broom and get up and down and then had me land before going over the rules for the game. "As we all know we are going to be playing a mock game today, there will be a keeper, a seeker and chasers. We will not have and bludgers or beaters in the game as Lotus is still learning to fly." He then assigned teams and I ended up being the keeper for mine as I refused to fly back and forth over the whole pitch. I ended up blocking the quaffle twice but it had gotten past the first time it came my way. By the time the snitch was caught I had almost forgotten how high up I was until I looked down to land. Overall I had had fun but didn't imagine myself on a broom to much in the future. As we all landed I had several of the professors tell me I should try out for a keeper position on my houses quidditch team next year. I look down before saying I'm not really that good. Dumbledore gets a twinkle in his eyes before asking innocently "Are you scared of not getting in?" I sharply look up as Dumbledore says this and almost glare. He had told me he wouldn't tell anyone I was afraid of heights and he didn't but rather skirted around it. I couldn't help but be a little surprised at how slytherin it was of the gryffindor headmaster before plastering a sneer on my face. "Of course I'm not afraid, I just don't want all the other houses to be guaranteed to lose every game."

With that i spun on my heel and placed the broom back in the broom shed.I then begin to head up to the school with a small smile at having faced my fear of heights for so long. As i finally make my way back to the entrance I start to notice just how tiring flying is. I mean i was sitting on a broom for well over an hour. Suddenly the idea of everything had me snickering to myself. I was a freaking witch and I live in a castle. If someone had told me this over a month ago I would think them bloody mad. Yet here I am. I make my way back to the staff common room and then ultimately to my room. I start to get ready to go to bed before stopping at my desk looking at my opened copy of Hogwarts a History. I had been reading about the four houses and the founding of Hogwarts. Based on what I read I know I am certainly not a Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. I've no delusions that I'm kind enough to be a hufflepuff and even more so that I am nowhere near as foolhardy, I mean courageous, as one. I think I would fit in okay as a Ravenclaw, I mean I learn thing quite easily and am able to do things easily after a few tries. Slytherin however is were I wish to be sorted, they are cunning and resourceful. I know for a fact this is what I had to be to have survived this long. I put a marker in the book and close it before going back to getting ready for bed.

The following morning I get up feeling refreshed and notice the meal left by presumingly Slippy, I grab a few bites of the eggs and a piece of bacon before changing and heading out into the common room. I notice that a bulletin board has been placed in the room with a few notices. I walk over out of curiosity and see that they are last minute reminders to the professors to have their material ready for the start of the school year along with a few other reminders. I turn away just as the most annoying professor I could possibly ever have walks up behind me. He looks at me with a jolly smile plastered on his face that I assume is meant to be charming. "Ahh Lotus, Just the girl I was looking for." I internally cringe before looking back over to Lockhart. "What ever do you need Professor." I smirk at how the man was always oblivious to my thinly veiled sarcasm when I said the word Professor. He looked down at me before telling me he just finished his new book "I'll be adding it to the curriculum and as you have shown so much enthusiasm in my adventures I decided I would give you a signed copy" He hands over a book and i put on a face of sheer shock "Professor how can I ever thank you for such a gift?" He looks down at me and starts to boast of his heroics and kindness as I resist rolling my eyes He finishes off with "Simply tell others of how even a famous star like me has such kindness to his fans." I nod my head before walking away with a headache from the annoying man.

I decide to take the book and put it in my room along with his other crappy books at the very bottom layer of my bookshelf where I almost never look. The man infuriated me but at least after the school year has ended I can probably make a decent amount of cash off the book. Speaking of cash the wizarding world's money is quite odd to me. But I guess it will just take some time to adjust to it. From what I can tell I have inherited a not so small fortune from both of my parents who were the last of their lines leaving me as the sole inheritor of two rather large vaults filled to the brim with fancy furniture, dish sets, walking sticks, family crests, Journals, and just about anything I could ever possibly want. It is also filled with galleons, sickles and knuts. If I wanted I would never need lift a finger for anything my heart desires. I have yet to actually see my vaults in person but Dumbledore , with my permission was granted a one time access with my family's goblin banker, gashiel I believe his name was, so that he could take wizarding pictures of my vaults do I could get an idea of what all I have. Not to mention all of my items are being paid for as I'm a ward of Hogwarts so I technically don't even need to touch my money till I graduate. Plus I will always have a room in hogwarts so I will never have to move out if I choose not to. I did however inhibit a few homes from my parents and plan on visiting them in a few years. I honestly don't want to right away though because I don't really want to see and know what my life could have been had my parents not been killed. I did however decide that I would take out money for holidays, birthdays and such so that I may get presents for those I actually like.

I hear a knock on my door and I'm pulled out of my thoughts as I stand and walk away from the bookshelf to see who it is. To my surprise it was Dumbledore waiting at my door and as I got ready to invite him in he cut me off by asking me to walk with him. I am a little caught off guard by this as I have only really talked to him the few times and it almost always pertained to my situation or grades. I step out into the hall and follow him as he begins his stride. "Lotus I was wondering how you are feeling about all that has happened this past month. It is after all only a few more days until school starts and I would like to know how you are settling in." I look up at the old man who seems to have a twinkle in his eyes before responding "I like it here very much, It would be a lie however to say that I am used to everything though. Most of what I know of the wizarding world is through what I have read so I only understand the concepts of the wizarding world. I have understood all the material I have done but when it comes to practical knowledge on the society as a whole I feel as though I'm lacking. I do however know quite a bit about Hogwarts from the book that you left me. I quite enjoyed Hogwarts a History." I had learned that with him it was best to get everything out in the open lest he question you on every little detail. Dumbledore looks down at me before responding "If you would like I could tell you the titles of a few books found in the library that could help you on the general history of the wizarding world. Quite a few muggle borns check them out at the beginning of the year to learn about our world. I am however glad to hear you are adjusting well. I was quite impressed by your grades considering the short amount of time you had to complete your classes." He smiles down at me before continuing "There are however some things I would like to inform you on before the beginning of the year so that you are aware of them rather than hearing it from other students. You of course know that your parents where killed by Voldemort correct?" I look at the man a little shocked he would outright say it but I suppose he knows I don't like to beat around the bush so I simply nod my head. "Well you see the both of your parents believed in blood supremacy for a while, they believed purebloods were better than muggle borns. They ended up joining Voldemort's ranks as Death Eaters. These were those with similar views. They however didn't really understand what they had gotten themselves into. As much as it pains me to tell you, they killed countless muggles for years until their views started to change it was towards the fall of Lord Voldemort that they decided to flee and return to the side of the light. It however was to late, once they joined it was for life. Voldemort was not one to simply let anyone leave. He hunted your parents down and they had just barely managed to keep you hidden. Voldemort was unaware you were born, It had been on the run that you were born and they hid you at the orphanage."

Dumbledore looks down at me and I feel as though he's waiting for some sort of reaction. To be honest I don't truly care too much about those that left me behind. I know it sounds horrible but I never knew them. I mean it saddens me that my parents are dead but I at least know what actually happened. It would be a lie if i said I didn't care about them at all but it would also be a lie to say I love them. I mean I've never met them, yeah they gave their lives for me but they were the ones who decided to bring me into this world anyways. I look up at him calmly. "Thank you for telling me, but if I may be so bold, why are you telling me?" Dumbledore sighed slightly as he says "Would you have preferred not knowing and one of your classmates recognizing the name and judging you based on it without you knowing or being fully aware of who you came from" I nod my head slowly before thanking him once again. He then leads me back to my room wishing me a good night.


	4. Chapter 4

I wake up bright and early, the sun's not even up yet but I don't mind. It's the day before school starts. In fact that's not really the reason I had gotten up early. I wanted to speak with Severus and ask him if he would like to be my official guardian. I mean he might as well already be it with the way he treats me. I mean he's strict when it comes to rules and I'll be damned if I ever openly disobey him but on the other hand he's the only professor I truly like. I mean he's rude and sarcastic towards others and so am share the same sort of dark twisted humor and the man even took time out of his own schedule to teach me Defense Against the Dark Arts when I complained that the ignoramus of a teacher wasn't really teaching anything.

I do however not want to get my hopes up to high. I know that he used to be a Death Eater and that he probably wouldn't want kids for that reason. He doesn't know I know though. One of the times I was helping him prepare potions I had just finished mincing some roots and he was stirring his potion when his sleeve rode up a little and I saw the Dark mark for a few seconds before he finished stirring and had looked back at me. I don't really mind though because he must of had his reasons. I mean not all Death Eaters were evil, or at least not completely. I mean most of the followers joined because of their views on blood purity before the dark lord became obsessed with immortality and wiping out muggles and muggle born. Infact I think there's not really that much wrong with the Dark Arts themselves. I mean yeah I don't like the three unforgivables but other than that if it's life or death I think you should know as much as possible. Besides what's wrong with a little curiosity.

I'm pulled out of my thoughts when I stub my toe against the edge of the sink in my bathroom. I mutter to myself a little bit about stupid things getting in my way even though I know it's my fault for walking into it. I turn on the shower and gently comb through my dirty blond hair that reaches halfway down my back. I hop in the shower quickly before finishing my morning routine. I look in the mirror and notice that my dark blue eyes look almost black at the moment rather than their normal sapphire.I can't help but think that if I brewed a potion or used a spell to change my hair color to a black that I would actually look kinda like the man. I'm no fool and I've heard of what the kids think of him and all the things they actually believe about him. Having a kid is definitely not on that list and I know it would freak half the kids out. If he says yes to being my guardian I'm going to have so much fun with it. I walk back out to my room and admire how neat it is. I've never really had a place to call my own so I take pride in keeping all my things neat and clean. I know there are house elves at hogwarts but I prefer to clean most of it on my own so it's not very often anything is ever truly dirty in my rooms. I look up at the clock and realize I had lost myself in my thoughts so I slip out my door before heading down to Professor Snape's office. He had told me I could call him Severus and I had for about a week but it was kind of weird so I reverted back to calling him sir or professor. It always just felt weird and kind of disrespectful in a way.

I make my way through the dungeons before stopping at his office door and knocking lightly. I know he can hear it though because he is probably in his potions lab that's connected to his office and the door is charmed to allow him to hear when people knock even if he's in his lab. It takes a few minutes before I hear him moving into his office before I hear him telling me to enter. He takes one look at me and I can tell he's wondering why I am down here. In his baritone voice he asks "To what do I owe the pleasure?" I look down for a few seconds before realizing how nervous I am but I look back up and say in a calm voice "I was wondering if you would like to be my official guardian." His eyes widen for a mere fraction of a second before going blank. I can tell he's having some inner turmoil though. I know he's thinking of his dark mark when I notice he slightly tugs his sleeve. I've noticed that's his only real tell. He looks back at me before responding "I'm not sure that's the best idea." I knew he would say something along those lines so before he can continue on I tell him "I don't care that you have the dark mark on your arm." He looks alarmed the second I mention the dark mark and he swiftly stands up and locks the door behind me before telling me to sit. "How do you know about my mark and have you told anyone?"

"Your sleeves rolled up one day and I saw the bottom half, you were so engrossed in your potion brewing and I think you didn't even remember I was there and that you needed to worry about it. I have not told anyone about it and nor do I intend to. I'm not one to judge and I know you're not a evil person. Besides the headmaster wouldn't give you a job if he thought you were first in line to try and return him to power. By my guess you joined at a younger age but then went to the 'side of the light.' I'm guessing you were an informant of sorts? A spy?" I can see the tension radiating off him before he realizes that I truly don't plan to go telling everyone I meet this information but a little surprised at me having figured it out. "I expect you won't tell anyone any of this. However seeming as you already know I would like to take you up on your offer but before you decide for sure I need you to understand something. If the Dark Lord returns I must resume my role as spy and If you are my daughter you will be expected, by the Dark Lord, to join his ranks as well. It will put you in danger and you would have to learn to protect your mind. You would basically become a spy as well. It would be suspicious if I had a child and I didn't bring them to meet the dark lord. I'm telling you this so you know the dangers if you truly wish me as your guardian. If you decide against it I hope you know I have to obliviate your knowing of my status. The choice is yours." I smile slightly at his words, I knew we would be having a conversation along these lines the second I thought about asking him to be my guardian. I know it will be dangerous should that happen but I've never really had a father and Professor Snape already acts like it in a sense so why not make it official. "I would be pleased to be your daughter." Professor Snape looks slightly shocked before standing and unlocking the door before informing me to follow him to Dumbledore's office.

We came to a gargoyle that Professor Snape told "Lemon Sherberts" before it moved revealing a staircase that moved us up by itself. When we get to the top Dumbledore is already opening the door saying he was expecting us. I'm shocked when I notice adoption papers already, for the most part, filled out with both of our names. Dumbledore simply seats us both before offering lemon sherberts that we both decline. He then looks at the two of us and asks if I will be taking his surname. I hadn't thought this far out and so I look to Professor Snape before responding "As long as Professor Snape doesn't mind I would like to yes, ans since my biological parents never gave me a middle name I could have that be Lapis." Professor Snape simply say's it's fine by him before Dumbledore hands me a quill and tells me to sign my new name. Once again my name turns gold before Professor Snape takes the quill to sign as well. Dumbledore then merrily goes on to say " Your quarters will be connected so that her room and bathroom will be added onto your quarters Severus." He simply nods to the old wizard before standing and telling me to come along. I respond back with a barely hidden grin "Yes father."

We head back down to the dungeons before he tells me he has a few more batches of potions he needs to bottle for the infirmary and that when he is done we can go to our quarters. I nod before following him into his lab. He seems a little curious as to why I followed him in rather than waiting in his office but says nothing when I go to one of the cauldrons and begin to help him put them into bottles and labeling them. We worked silently together until it was finished and he sent the bottles to the infirmary. I look up at him before we leave and decide to ask him some questions as we walk back to our rooms. "Will the rules be the same as the ones I had before?" He looks down at me before responding "For the most part however while you must be respectful to your professors faces you don't have to do exactly what they say. They are not your guardian and as such can only assign detentions." I smile and nod before asking "Anything else I need to know right away?" He seems to think about it for a few minutes before responding "I will expect the best from you and as such you will need to keep your grades up. I will also expect you keep your room organized and clean as I don't tolerate laziness." He seems to think for a bit more before adding "When I tell you to do something you will do it regardless of if you want to or not. If you have a problem you will wait for an opportunity to calmly talk to me about it. Anything else we will simply decide as we go, understand?" I nod my head just as we reach the doors to the teachers common room.

I push open the doors and am blinded for a few seconds by all sorts of lights going off and cheers. I look around when I finally open my eyes and notice Dumbledore and the rest of the teachers milling about the room smiling with a congratulations banner hanging. I look over and notice Professor Sna- I mean fathers face to see a sneer plastered there at their antics and I have all I can do not to laugh at his face. It's around lunch time and I notice they have all sorts of candies and treats set up for a party. Father tries to casually walk to our rooms before Dumbledore forces him to go and have a drink with him. I look around the room once more before sitting down with a father, Dumbledore and a few other teachers. After an hour of talking and celebrating Dumbledore says in a happy voice "Not only are we celebrating their new relationship but as many of you know it's Lotus's Birthday tomorrow and that with the sorting and other activities we won't get a chance to celebrate much tomorrow so we also decided to celebrate that today." My ears tips turn a light shade of red as many of my professors place pleasantly wrapped gifts on the table. Father even gets up before returning with a gift. To be honest I hadn't been expecting anything let alone for anyone to remember my birthday. Father nudges me slightly and I'm pulled out of my thoughts when I realize they are waiting for me to open gifts.

A half hour latter and me and father were in the safety of our own quarters. I'm pretty sure we were both exhausted. When we first enter it is a living room with two doors and a hallway. He points at the first one saying it's magically connected to his office and that the other is connected to the Slytherin dorms. He then shows me down the hallway pointing out his room, an extra bathroom (we both have our own personal ones in our rooms), a small kitchen and then he points at the last door saying it's where it connected my bedroom. He tells me that I can place my gifts in my room and to be ready in an hour to take a trip to Hogsmeade with him to pick up a few extra potion ingredients that he's running low on. I walk into my quarters to see them just as organized as when I left them this morning. I walk over to my bed and set all my gifts down.

From Professor Sinistra, Aurora, I got a small collapsible telescope along with a necklace and earring set shaped like stars that would lightly glow in the dark. I got a book called "Useful Charms for Everyday Use" from Professor Flitwick. I got a book about keepers by Madam Hooch that kept insisting that my second year I should tryout. I've flown a few times but I would still get nervous about it the entire time. I got a picture book on plants and what their used for from Professor Sprout who had noticed the plants I knew the most about where the ones that I knew where used as potions ingredients. I got a framed picture of Professor Lockhart from him that I plan on selling because I find it downright weird to have a picture of the ignoramus. I had also gotten a book on animagus's from Professor McGonagall because I had asked her about them quite frequently after I found out she could turn into a cat. I think it would be cool to one day learn how. I know it would take a lot though so I figure even if I can only ever do a partial formation it would still be cool. Dumbledore had gotten me a sampler box of candy with two of just about every candy you could think of. Cuthbert, Professor Binns, had told me that for my Birthday he was going to introduce me to the rest of the ghosts who live in Hogwarts. I had asked him about many of the ghosts after reading Hogwarts a History because most of them tended to only come out so often. Cuthbert and I had become friends over my interest in history and I had even learned that he liked wizarding chess but couldn't play any longer because he couldn't pick up the pieces easily, he could do this weird levitating thing as a ghost but it apparently was very draining so he couldn't complete games. After he had told me that I had started getting out the chess set in the teachers common room and playing with him by having him tell me what pieces to move his turn. I had yet to even come class to beating him but he said I was getting much better. I got a mini medical kit with things for small problems like a salve to instantly cure parchment cuts and potions for headaches. Madam Pince had given me a one time note with permission to enter the restricted section assuming she's there with me along with permission to sign out any three books from the restricted section as long as they remained only in the library, teachers common room or my bedroom in father's quarters. Father, It's weird to think I have a father. It feels a little surreal. From him I got a couple of books and a collapsible cauldron that he had filed with mini bags of ingredients. One of the books he got me was called "Potions for Teenage Witches" and the other was called "Occlumency for Beginners." The first book looked like he had asked a bookstore employee what a young girl would like because it certainly didn't look like something he would have picked. I can't help but snicker at the image of him going into the store and purchasing the book. The other has a note attached saying it is to help me learn how to protect my mind should I ever need to along with a postscript that he will expect me every monday and wednesday night to practice. I can't help but wonder when he got me this book seems how he had just agreed to being my guardian and had told me I would have to learn it. I decide not to dwell on it as I neatly put my gifts away one by one.

Looking up at the clock I realize I only have ten minutes left before having to head out with Father to get ingredients. I grab my traveling cloak and threw it on while skimming my book Potions for Teenage Witches to see if there was a potion in there for dyeing my hair. I was pleasantly surprised when I found a potion that only took an hour to brew that would dye my hair a dark black. I quickly checked my cauldron filled with ingredients and I have all of the things required. I then skimmed some more through the book before realizing it is all sorts of potions to change appearence, get rid of any breakouts and even some simple pain relievers for that time of the month. I set the book back down along with all the ingredients for my hair dye potion and walk out the door to meet up with father before heading out.

Father had taken me down a path from the school to the small village and I looked around in wonder. He pointed out a few of the shops as we walked while telling me about how third years and up had Hogsmeade weekends in which they could go to Hogsmeade but the staff can go whenever they please. He then went on to tell me that any of the times he is going I am welcome to join him since he's now my father and it would be no different than anyone else's parents flooing in to take their children places. I watch in glee as we enter the J. Pippin's Potions Shop. The store's front is filled with completed potions for sale but the back has ingredients galore. I look at all the ingredients in awe and i reach out towards a blue powder. Father without even looking slaps my hand away while telling me to never touch potion ingredients unless I know what they are first. I nod my head as I blush at the idea of anyone having seen that. Thankfully the store is practically empty and no one saw. Snape went around picking up ingredients before heading over to the counter. While we wait I look up at him before asking "Do you care if I brew a potion from the book you gave me tonight?" He looks down at me before telling me all the potions in the book are relatively easy and that I can brew them on my own unless they have a star on the top of the page. Apparently the potions without stars can't cause any true damage even if messed up so I don't have to worry. I nod just as a young man comes to check us out. As soon as we are done we head back to Hogwarts and eat dinner served by the house elves.

After I go to my room to begin brewing in my new collapsible cauldron. An hour and a half later it was done. It had taken me a half hour to set up the potion and then the hour of letting it sit. I then read the instructions before using the potion like a shampoo, letting it sit for five minutes before washing it out. I look at my hair that used to be a dirty blond that is now pitch black. I smile at it as I realize I actually quite like the color. I look up at my clock and notice it's almost eight and decide to go and see what my father thinks of my new hair. I grab a book and figure I'll just go and read until he notices me. I walk out and see him sitting at the couch drinking a cup of tea while reading a book. I then go to the plush couch opposite him and sit down and begin to read from my new book on Occlumency. I end up getting so absorbed in the book that I'm suprised when I hear a slight choking sound and look up to see father having all he can do to not choke on his tea as he is staring at me. It takes me a second before I notice it's my hair he's looking at. I laugh slightly as he asks why I dyed it. I smile before telling him I had heard stories of him that students would tell and thought it would be funny to look more like him and scare a couple of kids. He smirks slightly at that and then I stand up and walk over to the door before walking back in with his signature billowing of his robes. He actually chuckles slightly at this and I can't help but feel a little giddy inside at having made him happy. Shortly after he sits up saying that I should head off to bed because he want's me to be able to experience the train ride to Hogwarts. He also told me that like the first years I would take the boat ride and wait to be sorted. "As you are going to start as a second year you will be sorted after all of the first years have been sorted." I nod at him with a smile hoping that I am sorted Slytherin, I mean Ravenclaw wouldn't be bad but if I was sorted Gryffindor I would have to burn the god forsaken hat. With that note I headed off to bed.

I was woken up bright and early when father knocked on my door telling me to be up and ready for breakfast in ten minutes. I quickly showered and changed before finishing my morning routine. I then walked out to breakfast and picked up a little bit of eggs and a piece of toast and put it on my plate. Father then started of a conversation. "As nobody knows your last name I was wondering if you would like to instead be brought to the train station with my godson's father. I know you wish to scare your fellow classmates so I know you could keep it a surprise until your name is called for the sorting." I can't help but smile "That's a brilliant idea, imagine everyones faces when they call my last name if I billow my robes like how you enter rooms. " he smiles down at me before telling me we will be leaving immediately to go to Malfoy Manor so that I may go with them. Father had talked to me about his godson and their family once or twice during brewing sessions so I already knew of their status on blood purity and how I would need to act around them. Once breakfast was finished we walked to the edge of the forest before he told me we would apparate to Malfoy Manor. I smiled at the untill i realised he wouldn't let me do it on my own even though I know how to apparate. He then decided a mini lecture on why it's not safe to appartate when you don't know the exact place. I can't help but roll my eyes at him. Not even a second later he had tilted my chin up and told me in a tone that could kill "Roll your eyes at me one more time young lady and you're going to be sorry. I won't tolerate my own child being disrespectful. Do you understand?" I nod my head before realizing he's waiting for a verbal answer. " I understand; it won't happen again."

"Now grab my arm so we can go." I grab hold of his arm and with a familiar pop we are in front of a huge and gorgeous manor. There are fairies flying around and a huge assortment of beautiful creatures around the grounds. Father simply grabs my hand and pulls me along behind him until I stop gawking and fall in pace beside him. We walk up the stairs towards an ornate snake knocker and father simply lets it fall twice onto the large mahogany door. To my surprise it is opened by a little house elf. The only one I had ever seen was Slippy. This one simply led us down a hall before saying "Master Lucius and young master Draco will be out shortly." Father sits down on a large plush couch and I follow suit and sit next to him. We wait for a few minutes until a boy about my age walks into the room followed by an older version of himself with an ornate cane with a snake head. I watch them as they walk with my eyes following their every steps. The man greets father with a smile before looking me over with calculating eyes. He extends his hand for what I assumed was a handshake but to my surprise he turned it over and ghosted his lips over my skin in a soft kiss. "It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Snape, If you would allow me may I call you Lotus" I can't help but blush slightly at this but I force my tone to remain calm and neutral as I reply "The Pleasure is mine Mr. Malfoy, and please call me Lotus." He then gestured to his mini version "This is my son Draco." Draco then reached out and just as his father did kissed my hand. His was different though it lasted longer and he looked me in the eyes before winking and drawing back. The elder Malfoy then sat down on the couch opposite father and I. Draco spoke up "Lotus would you like me to show you around the Manor." I stand "It would be my pleasure to accompany such a handsome young man." I watch as his cheeks flare read and can't help the smirk that came to my face at having made him flustered.

Draco turns and leads me out of the room and back to the entrance. He points to the end e just came from sayings it's the main part of the house and then points at the left half saying that it's the guest wing. He then leads me forward through the door directly infront of the entrance and their is a large ball room. At the far ends are two stair cases that come down elegantly. I look around the room and am awed by the elegance. A door above the staircases and I see an attractive older woman that looks a bit like Draco. He whispers over to me "That's my mother Narcissa" She walks down the stairs like a queen and calls out to Draco. "Your father told me you were taking Snape's daughter on a tour and I was sent to find you. Severus would like to say goodbye to his daughter before he leaves." She leads us out to the entrance and father is standing next to Mr. Malfoy and he looks down and tells me he'll see me at Hogwarts before he departs. The door clicks and I am left alone with the Malfoys. Luscious turns and tells his son "We will be leaving in an hour for the train." he then looks at me "Lotus would you like to join me for a cup of tea?" I simply nod and follow him out as Draco waves goodbye before heading up to his rooms to finish preparing to leave. We arrive back in the sitting room from before and I sit in the spot father had occupied earlier while Mr. and Ms. Malfoy sit across from me. With a quick flick of his wand a tea set appears and he pours a cup for me and passes it over before pouring one for his wife as well as one for himself.

"So this will be your first year at Hogwarts despite you starting as a second year. Severus told me you came on a flight from America and that is why you had not been attending sooner. He also informed me you were to be a ward of Hogwarts but you both choose to be with each other, any particular reason or?" Mr. Malfoy smiles a devil's smile all the while he is beginning to interrogate me. I decide my best method will be to tell him what he already knows and just enough so he won't question it. I know he was a death eater and I know if the dark lord returns he will likely follow him once again. "As you may already know I am a pureblood and my parents were followers of the dark lord. Or at least they were till they became blood traitors." I curl my lip into a sneer to add a little emphasis before continuing. "I may have only found out about the wizarding world a little while ago but I'm not thick enough to believe muggles and muggle borns deserve to see our society. My parents idiocy forced me to live with muggles for the majority of my life. I guess to answer your question, father was the only wizard that seemed to catch onto my view and he confronted me about it." I put on a thoughtful face as I continue with the story I had come up with that I made close enough to the truth that if I ever need to once I learn Occlumency I can pretend it is truly what happened. "Father had been allowing me to help him brew after I finished all my first year potions and that's when he did it. He didn't tell me much but I do know that he supports the dark lord and that when he does rise back to power, because I am certain such a great wizard will return back to power, he will be at the dark lord's side. In me being his child I know it will be easier for Dumbledore to believe father is under his thumb with the threat of a child." I then put on a hopeful face and finish with "I know what my parents did was unforgivable but I can only hope for the dark lord to show me mercy. If he wishes me dead I'll do it with my own wand should I have to." I can see the slight shock on Mr. Malfoy's face so I turn my head down and act like I was embarrassed before muttering out "I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to say all of that."

"Don't apologize for willing to serve the dark lord, Severus was quite right when he said you had a vast amount of potential, one day you will make a great death eater. Enough of this talk however, my son is still quite innocent on these matters and Narcissa wishes to only tell him what he needs to know for now." I can't help but smile at the man, he fell for it hook line and sinker. Shortly after Draco enters and The elder Malfoys stand and we walk outside when they apparate us to an alley by the train station. We step out and then into the station where Mr. Malfoy points out the wall we must walk through. Draco waltzes through it but I notice he squeezes his eyes shut. I follow suit and walk straight through the wall without a doubt I would pass through. I however was not expecting the site I saw. I keep my face neutral as I take in the busy station. Draco turned around as his parents entered saying goodbye. "Thank you for going through the trouble of bringing me Mr. and Ms. Malfoy." Ms. Malfoy spoke up for the second time this morning "You were wonderful company." Before turning and hugging Draco while whispering something in his ear. His face immediately went red as he stuttered we have to go. He offers me a hand in the bustling station and I gently take it before he begins pulling me along with him and his trunk and owl. For the first time I truly notice his owl because it had hooted when he had jostled its cage to take my hand. "Would you like some help Draco?, I could carry your owl cage for you." He looks over at me and passes his cage over "Thank you Lotus." I look closer at his owl that's small and black. It looks like it would be fast compared to most other owls. "What's her name?" He looks over at me "Shadow, because she sticks to the shadows." We continue walking till we board the train. I can't help but look around but I'm careful not to be overly obvious about it so I don't look like some over excited firstie. Draco then leads me to the last compartment on the train and slides his trunk and owl cage in.

"Crabbe and Goyle will be joining us on the ride, they aren't the brightest but they are useful to keep around." I look at Draco and smile "I think I might act like a firstie for a bit and look for the compartment with the potter brat in it." His lips curl up in disgust so I cut him off before he can say anything "Heavens no, not like your thinking, I plan on pretending to be all sweet and nice to him and his friends and then after all the first years are sorted my name will be called and I can watch the horror in their eyes as the sweet girl they met on the train is a Snape and sorted in Slytherin." As I explained I saw the look of disgust on his face turn to a smirk. "If you would like I know where their compartment is, I can pretend to be picking on you and they will surely butt in and offer to let you sit with them." We both smile at each other and begin to commence our plans soon after.

"Stop it, p-please stop" I cry out in front of the compartment Draco had pointed out and I let tears stream down my face as Draco pushes me around slightly. He's careful not to actually hurt me. Right on que a bushy haired girl opens the door and she steps out and hands on her hips tells Draco "Stop picking on a new kid, it's not right." Draco sneers at the girl before spitting out "Oh and what are you gonna do about it Granger." He says her name like it's a curse. Then a boy with unruly brown hair steps out and tells him to just sod off. Draco then mutters "I have better stuff to do that breath the same air as filth like you." I start sniffing slightly as they leave and Hermione ushers me in. "It's okay Draco is a jerk to everyone." As soon as the door is closed I pull out my wand and twist it in my fingers in a nervous manner. I make sure to keep my eyes down as I play my part. "M-my names Lotus what are yours? I don't care much for last names though" I ask in a small voice.. They look down at me with pity in their eyes before the redhead says, "I'm Ron, that Hermione and this is Harry." He says while pointing at everybody in turn. I nod before showing a small smile "Thank you for helping me." After the initial awkwardness we were laughing and talking. I feel bad for having to trick them to get in with them but I need them to know I'm not a bad person even if I'm in Slytherin. A short while latter two boys who look identical with their red hair and freckles walk in out compartment. I can't hold in my shock as I have to stop myself from jumping up and down. "It's the Weasley Twins, you're like legends. All the professors talk about the pranks you've pulled" Everyone in my compartment looks at me a little shocked and I realize that I let it slip that I frequently hear the professors even though they know this is the first year I'm attending Hogwarts. Ron bursts out "How do you know what the professors talk about?" I look down slightly before saying "Umm… well you see I kind of have a parent that's part of the staff." I fidget slightly and they thankfully decide to leave it at that. One twin speaks up "It seems we've found" the other picks it up "our biggest fan!" I smile at them before asking if they would consider teaching me the tricks of their trade. They smile at me and say it would be delightful to have such a willing pupil. I hope they still believe that after the sorting. "Even if I were to be sorted into say slytherin would you still teach me?" They look at me with a smile "Of course, as long as you're willing to prank your own head of house to prove you actually want to learn." I smile at them and I feel my stomach drop slightly at the thought of pranking father. He won't be pleased but I know from some of what the professors have said that they modify or maybe even create new spells in order to do some of their pranks. Besides those spells may come in handy one day.

Soon after we are pulling into the station and I follow the half giant to the boats with the first years. I had yet to actually meet the groundskeeper as he never went to the staff common room. I hopped into a boat and thankfully no one choose to sit with me as we pushed off. Everyone around me gasped at the sight as I remained silent. I had already seen the castle and know most of the paths to and from all of my classes along with the library great hall and I had already found the entrances to all the common rooms after a little searching. Soon they were all lined up and ready to be sorted as I sat back with feigned interest. After everyone was sorted Dumbledore stood up "This year we have a young lady who will be starting as a second year here at Hogwarts and she shall be sorted now that all the first years have been." He sat back down as Professor McGonagall called out loud enough for the whole hall to hear "Lotus Snape." At my last name everyone began whispering and I could see the the twins, Potter, Ron and Hermione looking at me in shock. I calmly walk to the front while hearing things like "Who knew Snape had a kid?" and "That poor girl having to deal with Snape on a daily basis?" I finally reach the hat and gently place it on my head. _You are smart like a ravenclaw but without a doubt your_ SLYTHERIN. My sorting only took a mere second and I sauntered over to a seat next to Draco that looked as though it had been saved for me. As I sat down I heard even more whispers.


	5. Chapter 5

As I sat down Dumbledore stood back up to do his welcome speech. He introduced the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, or should I say idiot. Soon after we were all enjoying our feast. I grabbed a little bit of food but I've found that in general I don't have the biggest appetite. I had always just assumed it was from not having eaten properly for so long but I have been eating more just not as much as most others. I'm pulled out of my thoughts when Draco leans over and whispers in my ear "Did you see their faces, it was freaking hilarious" I let out a soft giggle because honestly there faces were priceless. I do however plan on trying to befriend them. Slytherin has a bad reputation but people never look at all the great witches and wizard that came from Slytherin. I mean for merlin's sake Merlin was a freaking Slytherin. But I think in general it's stupid to have such intense feuds between houses. It should be friendly rivalries not thinly veiled hate.

The prefects stand and tell us to follow them shortly after all of us have finished and tell us all to follow them so that they can show the firsties the common rooms and the rest of us the password. We descend into the dungeons and eventually reach the Silver Snake torch holder that is in front of our common rooms. "Serpent" is all the prefect says before ushering everyone in. The common room is beautiful and we have a stunning view of the bottom of the lake. Our common room is circular with a single fire place with plush chairs all around it. There are circular tables of various sizes scattered about and plush bean bags just thrown around the edges of the room. Our common room also has a large bulletin board just like the one in the teachers common room. Last but not least there are two stair cases leading down that the prefects inform us the girls are to the left and the boys are to the right. Then just as if it was rehearsed Father comes into the room with his signature billowing of the robes.

He looks down at all of us gathered around before starting in on his little speech "All first years will be given a copy of our house rules. You will be expected to have them read in full by the end of the day tomorrow. For those of you just sorted you need to understand that Slytherin has a reputation for being bad. It is also not uncommon for some teachers to hold prejudice against our house. Points tend to be taken for little reasons. This is why our first and most important rule is that you stick together. If you are having issues with a fellow Slytherin you take it up in here. We must show a unified front. We protect our own. I will never take points from our house but if you do something wrong you will be punished. Once you have detention with me once or twice you won't want to repeat the experience. Lastly before I go all first years you will be given your study schedules along with you normal schedule tomorrow. I expect all of you to be passing and as such there are mandatory study groups during the week and every sunday you must spend at least two hours in our house study session where all years will be and you can ask myself or older students to help you. That is all."

As soon as he exits the older years disperse while the first years just kind of stare around. Draco pulls me over to the rest of our year before introducing me to them all. The two that seem to be following him are introduced as Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle but they go by their last name. Next is Blaise Zabini who can only be described as a wannabe playboy. The last boy was Theodore Nott, he was rather quiet but seemed to be very intelligent. As for girls the first introduced was Pansy Parkinson who was basicly all over Blaise. She seemed ok despite being kind of possessive over Blaise as If I would try and steal him from her. I'll have to talk to her about it latter. Next up was Millicent Bulstrode who just seems to follow Pansy. Last but not least was Daphne Greengrass. She has a bubbly personality that I would expect from a hufflepuff but she quickly explained she may not be very cunning but she is resourceful and ambitious, the other two main traits of a Slytherin. After a few hours we all say our goodbyes and head to our dorms. We follow the stairs down and it leads us to a room about half the size of the common room. Daphne looks over and quickly explained the boys and girls both have their own mini room for all years to hang out in. "Some Conversations aren't really appropriate for all genders if you catch my drift." I nod before following her to the door that has a two carved on it. The first thing we see is a bathroom to the left with two separate showers and then another door to the rest of the bathroom. We enter to see four plush beds and we all find the one with our trunk at the bottom. Father must have sent some of my clothes and my school stuff to my room as any materials I need for class are in my trunk along with a bag with the Slytherin Crest on it. He must have been hoping I would be Slytherin.

I Grab out the bag and put all my school stuff into it. Since we don't get schedules until tomorrow I don't know what I will or will not need. I figure I want to get to my first class early so I have no intention of coming back for things. Once everything's in it I lift it realizing just how heavy everything is. I'll just have to suffer through it. I know I read about the feather light charm but I have no clue how to actually do it. I suppose If father has free time tomorrow I could go see if he could teach me how to do it. I set the bag back down before getting ready to go to bed. Once everyone's already in our dorm they start catching up on their summers as I mostly listen to them converse. When they get onto the topic of boys Pansy says in a loud voice aimed at me that her and Blaise are an item. I raise my eyebrow slightly before saying "I'm not really interested in anyone right now" when she only scowls more I decide that she likely responds a lot better to flattery so I add "besides have you seen the way Blaise looks at you, It's like you're the only girl in the world. You guys are such a cute couple." Pansy is blushing like mad now and it seems she gets it now. We aren't likely to ever be best friends or anything but she doesn't seem like she'll be that hard to deal with. Millicent or Millie doesn't seem too bad but she blindly follows Pansy. Daphne and I however seem to get along great and her upbeatness will make up for my rather sarcastically rude personality. Shortly after we all close the drapes of our plush four poster beds and as they head to sleep I pull out the rulebook first years are expected to read. Father had left one in my trunk on top of my school books so I can only assume he expects me to have it read like all the first years. I open the book and realize their are only five rules.

Rule 1: We stick together. Anyone going against this rule will have detention with Professor Snape until he believes they have learned this rule.

Rule 2: Study groups are not optional and must be attended at least three fourths of the the time.

Rule 3: First years are to be within the Common Rooms or Dorms an hour earlier than curfew.

Rule 4: If you are doing something against school rules don't get caught.

Rule 5: Never allow entry into the Slytherin common room to other students.

After I finish reading I grin at Rule 4. Cunning is one of the most prized traits in our house and it's basically telling us to just not get caught. I put the rule book away before falling asleep.

I wake up at about four in the morning before realizing there isn't a chance of me falling back to sleep. I get up and decide to shower and get ready for the day. I shower, change and everything before grabbing my bag and walking throught the girls common room up to the main common room. I look at the clock and notice it's only 5:15 and curfew doesn't let up till six. None of the other girls in the dorm where even close to waking up yet and I can only assume no one else is an early riser and will be down anytime soon. I mean breakfast doesn't even appear till seven thirty. People can arrive and eat anytime between seven thirty and nine. At nine everything disappeared as the bell chimes to head to the first class. Wow I really had read to much of Hogwarts a History. I open up my bag and pull out my second year potions book. I had already read all my textbooks with my last few days and I wanted to re read the steps to the potions. Any of the first year potions I can make from memory and I want to try and be able to do that for all the second year potions as well. I mean it would be a pain if every time I want to brew a simple potion I had to have the recipe on hand. I spend the next forty minutes memorizing one of the potion before closing my book with it's bookmark and closing my bag so I can head out at exactly six. As soon as the clock hits six I walk out the entrance to the common room and head to the great hall. I walk in and sit in the same spot as yesterday and place my bag beneath my seat.

A few minutes later father walks into the hall and comes over next to me. "I have charms on the slytherin common room to tell me when the first student leaves it. Imagine my surprise when one of my little snake's left the common room at exactly six." I smile up at him before saying "Early riser, and you?" He looks down at me and responds "I also rise early in the morning, As you know if you ever wish to sleep in your room in the faculty rooms you are welcome to." I nod my head and decide to ask "Could we perhaps set up a night or two every week where I stay in my room in the faculty rooms?" He nods down at me before pulling out an envelope with my name and handing it to me. I look down in question. "It's your schedule and I also included one of my own. When you don't have classes you are welcome to sit in on mine." I pull out my schedule first to check it out.

Schedules are set up with three possible class times starting at nine. Each being forty five minutes with fifteen minute breaks in between each class. Then lunch starts at noon and ends at one with classes resuming. Then there are four different possible slots for classes in the afternoon. All classes are over by five unless it's astronomy that's time's vary by class and year. A plan blank Schedule with the fifteen minute breaks in it would look like this:

6:00 Curfew lets up

7:30- 9:00 Breakfast

9:15- 10:00 Class one

10:15- 11:00 Class two

11:15- 12:00 Class three

12:00- 1:00 Lunch

1:15- 2:00 Class four

2:15- 3:00 Class five

3:15- 4:00 Class six

4:15- 5:00 Class seven

5:00- 6:30 Supper

9:00 Curfew

Any classes that are double are just two periods put together without the break making those classes an hour and forty five minutes rather than just 45 minutes. Astronomy can also be placed almost anytime at night. Each day however has it's own schedules and not all time slots are always filled. For a first or second year it's guaranteed to never be full. I pull out my schedule to see what I have. The first thing I notice is the scrawl on the side from father that says all second years have study groups on Tuesdays and Thursdays along with it saying to meet up in the common room from eight till curfew.

Monday

7:30- 9:00 Breakfast

9:15- 10:00 Potions

10:15- 12:00 Double History of Magic

12:00- 1:00 Lunch

1:15- 2:00 DADA

2:15- 3:00 Free Period

3:15- 4:00 Herbology

4:15- 5:00 Charms

5:00- 6:30 Supper

9:00 Curfew

Tuesday

7:30- 9:00 Breakfast

9:15- 11:00 Double Transfiguration

11:15- 12:00 Herbology

12:00- 1:00 Lunch

1:15- 2:00 Astronomy(studying)

2:15- 3:00 Free Period

3:15- 5:00 Double DADA

5:00- 6:30 Supper

9:00 Curfew

Midnight- 2:00am Astronomy(Gazing)

Wednesday

7:30- 9:00 Breakfast

9:15- 12:00 Free Periods

12:00- 1:00 Lunch

1:15- 2:00 Potions

2:15- 3:00 Transfiguration

3:15- 4:00 Charms

4:15- 5:00 Astronomy(studying)

5:00- 6:30 Supper

9:00 Curfew

Thursday

7:30- 9:00 Breakfast

9:15- 10:00 History of Magic

10:15- 12:00 Double Charms

12:00- 1:00 Lunch

1:15- 2:00 Herbology

2:15- 3:00 Transfiguration

3:15- 5:00 Free Periods

5:00- 6:30 Supper

9:00 Curfew

Friday

7:30- 9:00 Breakfast

9:15- 11:00 Double Potions

11:15- 12:00 DADA

12:00- 1:00 Lunch

1:15- 5:00 Free Periods

5:00- 6:30 Supper

9:00 Curfew

I can't help but smile at the fact that I have Wednesday morning's completely free as well as Friday nights free. Monday's and Tuesday's are a little cramped but having two day's where we get half of it to ourselves are worth it. I look over father's schedule and notice he also has Wednesday morning's off and that on Friday afternoons he has his sixth and seventh year double classes. I make a note to myself on my schedule that I want to sit in on his classes whenever I can. I smile up at father and I can tell he's trying to pretend he didn't purposely get the second year slytherin Schedule planned according to his schedule for me. "How about I spend the night in my room on Tuesdays and Friday's? Tuesday's because we both have free morning's and Friday's so I can bug you with questions about Potions." He nods down at me with a half smile "It would be nice to have someone actually ask meaningful questions for once." He then turned and headed up to the staff table. He's still a little distant but I feel like we're going to become closer over the next few months.I look up at the clock and am surprised to see we had talked for over an hour. Breakfast begins in five minutes. I look at the door and notice some people shuffling in and a few Hufflepuffs excitedly talking about what they think their schedules will look like.. I put my schedule away and as soon as food appears on the table I grab a pear and slowly eat it.

Slowly the great hall fills and soon Breakfast is over and Schedules are being passed out. Draco is looking over at me excitedly "We have Friday afternoon off!" I smile over at him and point out we also have a free morning on Wednesday. Daphne then joins in the conversation with a quiet cheer "We get to sleep in!" The bell rings and the rest of my year starts rushing off to the dungeons to get some more sleep since we have no classes till after lunch. I get up and instead head to the teachers common room. I head into my room and set my bag down. I grab out the book father had given me on occlumency and begin reading on his living room couch. I got through a chapter before I hear father open the door and walk in. "Morning father." He hopes down next to me and responds "Morning Lotus" I hold up my book and ask "So what it feel like having someone in your head? Is it like with the sorting hat or…?" He looks over at me "Depends on the person doing it but normally it's subtle and hard to notice or forceful and not caring that the person knows you in their head." I nod and go back to reading. It's a nice silence and I finish up the second chapter before asking "Can you show me both of the ways so I know what they feel like?" He looks over at me with no warning says " _Legilimens"_ I quickly pull my hands up to my head as I feel an excruciating pain and I can feel my memories being forcefully pulled to the front of my mind and I'm watching myself boarding the plane to leave America. Suddenly it just stops and I can feel the pressure leaving me as father speaks up. "That is the intensity the Dark lord will use if he ever believes you are lying or omitting any details." I'm breathing heavy and I realize I had rolled off the couch to the floor. All of a sudden I feel arms encircle me as I'm lifted onto the couch leaning slightly against father. He starts stroking my hair as he continues "I didn't mean to hurt you so bad but the headache should be gone in a few hours. I just needed you to see how far it can go. Had I been the Dark Lord that could have lasted hours. Once you learn Occlumency though you will be able to lessen the pain." As he continues to stroke my hair I start thinking back to when I first met him and learned I was a witch. I then start thinking about all the memories with him. "Are you in my head again?" he nods and pulls out of my head telling me he wordlessly cast the spell to show me how subtle it could be. I nod and realize that I'm sleepy from having him intrude my thoughts and fall asleep with him stroking my hair.

 _Severus Snape_

Getting out of bed I start to get prepared for the day At exactly six I am surprised when my ward notifies me the first Slytherin has left already. None of the older Snakes leave that early and the only other option is first years. Or perhaps Lotus is an early riser? It must be her, I doubt a first year would feel comfortable enough to just leave the common room in the morning. I finish getting ready and head down to the great hall and sure enough there she was. I walk up and as we speak I give her her schedule and a copy of my own. I watch as her face lights up at seeing we both have the same morning free and I surprisingly find I have to hold back my own smile. Is this what it's like to have a kid. Being happy just because you made them smile. I head up to ste staff table shortly after. Breakfast is as boring as normal and I pass out schedules. As it's the first full day no mail is coming in or out so I don't have to listen to the annoying chatter of first years when they see the owls. As the students file out I notice Lotus doesn't head down to the common rooms, she must be headed to our quarters. I get up and head down to my classroom to set it up for the first class. I smile when I realize it will be with Lotus and the Slytherin with Gryffindor. Dumbledore almost always likes putting the two together for potions but for once I won't mind the having to supervise extra bit because I look forward to seeing her antics. Not to mention she basically told me she wishes to use her new last name to her advantage when it comes to her fellow classmates. Once I reach my classroom it only takes a few minutes to set up before I head off to my quarters. Upon arriving I find her curled up with the book on Occlumency that I had gotten her. "Morning father." She says in a soft voice. I sit down next to her while responding "Mourning Lotus" She holds up her book and asks "So what it feel like having someone in your head? Is it like with the sorting hat or…?" "Depends on the person doing it but normally it's subtle and hard to notice or forceful and not caring that the person knows you in their head." She continues to read before asking me to show her both ways. I immediately whisper " _Legilimens"_ and tear through her brain not unlike how the Dark Lord would do it. I watch as she falls to the floor with her hands over her head and I feel a pang in my heart at having to hurt her. I stop shortly after and pick her up setting her next to me as I explain while casting it silently and delving into her thoughts. Shortly after she surprises me by whispering "Are you in my head again?" I simply nod before leaving her thoughts. She looks exhausted and as I slowly stroke her hair she falls asleep. I let her sleep until we only have a half hour of lunch left. She smiles at that before hopping up and grabbing her bag and to my surprise hugging me goodbye before running out the room. I can't believe she actually hugged me but I push the thought to the edge of my mind.

 _Lotus Lapis Snape_

I'm gently awoken by father and he tells me it's lunch time. I smile and grab my bag before quickly hugging him goodbye and running out the room before he can react. As I make my way to the lunchroom I think about what I had learned from today. It hurt like a son of a but it's mostly gone now. I slip into the great hall and take my seat next to Daphne and Draco. Daphne looks over at me before blurting out "Where were you all morning?" I simply say "I was at father's." Drac then joins the conversation "Our first class is with him right?" I nod before grabbing some food and listening to the conversations around me. Theodore is sitting across from me and asks "So, Lotus, are you good at potions?" I nod over at him before adding "I would think so anyway. I can make any of the first year potions from memory." He looks a little surprised before continuing with the conversation. I almost instantly like him. He knows just how much he can ask without crossing boundaries and he's really smart and doesn't need everything dumbed down for him. The bell rings for the afternoon classes and all of my classes head to the common room to get there stuff. I on the other hand just pick up my bag and lazily walk to our first potions class of the year. I was planning on entering all my classes early but the chance to walk in last minute with my robes billowing is just before father will. People's faces will be priceless. I slowly walk down and arrive at the door just a minute before class and it looks like everyone is already in there except father. I open the door and walk in doing my best impression of my father and have to hold in a snicker when I see a boy from Gryffindor jump at my presence and can only assume he must be scared of father. I look at the room quickly and notice it's basicly a line splitting Gryffindor and Slytherin. I calmly walk over to the split and notice there is one an odd number of both Gryffindor and Slytherin so one group will have to be one of both. I honestly don't care so I walk over and take the seat next to the Gryffindor towards the center. I smirk at the boy slightly when I realize it's the one that jumped. He goes a shade paler the second he realizes I'm sitting next to him. I look over and say in a whisper just loud enough for the whole class to hear "What wrong? You like like you've seen a ghost." Most of Slytherin starts laughing but they are quickly silenced when Snape walks in robes billowing and looking absolutely menacing. The boy next to me is practically shaking when he walks in and I lean over and whisper this time low enough so that he will be the only one to hear me "Don't worry, you're my partner today so nothing too bad will happen." I don't know why I bothered to reassure him but I know that if I want to try and get the houses to go from the hate to friendly rivalness I need to do it one act at a time. Start of small and then get bigger.

Father then starts by telling us we will be reviewing first year potions before going around assigning potions to groups. I notice he gives all the Slytherins the easiest potions and the more difficult potions. My group is last and I finally learn the boy's name when father walks up with a sneer "Mr. Longbottom and Ms. Snape I do hope you have studied." He then goes on to assign us the hardest first year potion. I simply smile at him before responding "Of course Professor." I look over at Longbottom before asking with a sneer "What's your name?, Mine is Lotus." He looks over at me nervously before barely choking out "N-neville" I look at him with a mocking tone "Was that supposed to be an answer or a question?" He then responds in a slightly less nervous tone "Answer" I then smile at him when he's not looking as he flips through his potion book looking for our potion. I simply take out all the ingredients as he's looking for the recipe. I then look over and tell him not to worry about finding the recipe and tell him I have it memorised. He looks over at me with a look as though to ask if I'm serious or not. I ignore it as I start instructing him on what to do. After I tell him to chop one of the ingredients it looks like he's butchering them. I sigh and am grateful that I had taken out double everything and put half in front of him and half in front of me. I look over at him and in a neutral tone tell him "You're going to ruin the potion if you cut like that watch me." I try not to put any sarcasm in as I say it because I don't want him to think he's a complete failure, from what I've seen he already has confidence issues. After watching me he gets decently cut roots and I half smile at him "Much better" I end up putting my prepared ingredients in but after I demonstrated how to prepare all the ingredients he had them all prepared decently. If they were used it would at least make a safe potion and not toxic. After all the ingredients are in I set it to simmer for three minutes before bottling it. I then look over at the boy "Neville would you please take our potion up to Professor Snape" He looks scared but picked it up and walks it over to his desk placing it down. He then walks as quickly as he can back to our seats and sighs in relief. "I was expecting him to tell me how bad my potion was." I look over at him in mock surprise "Are you saying you thought a potion that I was helping to make could ever be anything less than perfect." He looks over at me flustered and I quickly add "It was a joke." and he visibly relaxes." We have about five more minutes before the end of class so I scribble out a note for Fred and George that simply says Your biggest fan would like to know when you will be admitting her to your tutelage in the art of pranking. I then seal the envelope and hand it to Neville. "Could you give this to the Weasley Twins for me. He looks at me questioningly before nodding and putting it in his ball rings before he can ask me any questions and I get up and head of to Transfiguration.

I arrive ten minutes early. I already have all my books so I don't need to stop in the common rooms before every class. I look around and see Professor McGonagall as she brought out review as well. Must be the teachers like to see how much we remember after all summer. I smile at her and greet her "Morning Professor" She looks a little startled at first before greeting me back. Soon the class begins and we start to go over the review. First she takes out matchsticks and tells us we have five minutes to turn it into a needle. I quickly change it to a needle and look around the room. This class is combined with ravenclaw and I notice all of us Slytherin and Ravenclaw have finished early. Next up is review on the Avifors spell. It turns the targit into a bird, bat or a flock of birds or bats. It's not very common for it to be bats though. Professor Mcgonagall places an egg in front of each of us to practice on. I watch as many appear to be struggling before lazily pointing at my egg and turning it into a bat. I watch as it flies off and notice several of the raven claws muttering to each other "Of course the bat of the dungeons daughter would make a bat rather that a bird." I smile over at them before asking in a deathly sweet tone. "I do believe it is rude to talk about other students let alone Professors." I watch as they quickly turn around at the idea of me telling my father anything. I smirk to myself, I had wanted to "accidently" lose control of the spell and turn them into a flock of bats but I Instead decided it's better to make them worry and wait for a revenge that will never come. Besides if I openly hex anyone it will only make people see Slytherin as as bad as they believe it to be. I want the houses to come together so I have to be as nice as I can to not ruin my chances. After about fifteen minutes everyone has succeeded and we move on to the final thing they had done as first years. Learning to turn a small animal into a matchbox. She then proceeds to inform us "Take your birds, erm and bat, and turn it into a matchbox. Just like the final last year." People all around me are struggling as I look at my bat and change it into a matchbox. It's plain but practical so I decide to change the pattern on the box. I focus as hard as I can as I put the Hogwarts crest on the front with all four houses logos on the corners surrounding the school crest. When I'm done I raise my hand and professor McGonagall comes over and say "Five points to Slytherin for not only succeeding in making your matchbox on your first try but for having the Hogwarts Crest on it in perfect detail." I smile as I look around the room and watch others trying. By the time there's only five minutes left the only people to have succeeded completely are me, Draco, Theodore and two Ravenclaws. I walk up behind the two that were muttering about my bat earlier and ask them if they would like any help. They jump at my offer because they hadn't seen or heard me approaching. I smile down when they don't respond and I tell them and say loud enough for the rest of the class to hear "Form the matchbox in your minds before trying to cast anything. Imagine every last detail and don't try to over complicate it. Once you have a plain version that's successful worry about making it unique." I watch as they follow my instructions and they both get decent if not plain matchboxes. I smile and head back to my own seat and see that people are following my advice and before the bell rings everyone had succeeded in making matchboxes. I get up and just before I walk out the door Professor McGonagall calls me aside and asks me to stay behind for a few minutes. I step aside and let the other students pass by as I walk back over and stand next to her desk. As the last student leaves she points her wand to the door and it closes. "Lotus, seems as how you just helped over half a struggling class I was wondering if you would do a study session with some of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students that were struggling this morning. A lot of the second years were having a hard time and I would offer you extra credit for doing it of course." I smile slightly as I realize the last part was added to make me more likely to say yes. Most Slytherins won't do something if there's nothing in it for them. "I greatly appreciate your offer for extra credit but I'm afraid I must decline it." I watch her face fall for a second before adding "I will however agree to doing a study session, I just don't feel it would be fair for me to accept extra credit for helping others in something that's a first year material." She looks at me slightly shocked, I mean Slytherins don't do something for nothing. But then again I am getting something, I'm getting to try and spread some school unity even if only in a small case. Not to mention as the Head of Gryffindor if McGonagall likes me the Gryffindors will notice and hopefully it can get rid of some of the divide. She looks at me suspiciously before outright asking "And what do you get out of this?" I simply look her in the eye and tell her the truth "I think the house rivalries are a little more than just a friendly rivalry. I think there should be School unity as well as house unity. By agreeing to helping Gryffindors, my houses biggest rivals and Hufflepuffs It will begin to spread the idea that Slytherin aren't as bad as we are portrayed or at least we aren't all that bad." This seems to satisfy her as she tells me that it will be about seven students and that after dinner tonight I should go to the library and that they will meet me from six forty five to whenever we finish. You have five minutes to make it to your next class, Would you like a pass just in case?" I nod and she hands me the pass.

I just barely make it to Charms on time and I sit down next to Daphne. I look around the room and notice that Charms is also with Ravenclaws. Daphne Whispers over to me "What did the old lion want?" I ignore the jab at the teacher before responding "For me to do a study session for the second year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs that were struggling." Out of all the Slytherin second years she is by far the most understanding towards other houses so she doesn't question it when I tell her I agreed to it. Professor Flitwick stand behind the podium and hands out a class syllabus. It has all of the dates of when Homeworks will be assigned and when they are due. It appears he won't be doing review in class but instead has our first homework assignment to be practicing each spell from first year and righting out the steps to performing them along with what spells we are good at and which ones we struggle then takes out a book filled with ectoplasm and then drops it onto each students desk. "Today we will be learning the Skurge spell, It cleans ectoplasm and scares spirits." He then demonstrates it by moving his wand in the shape of a three leaf clover and saying _Skurge_ Shortly after we all set to work. Nobody manages to get it perfect but I was able to get all but a few drops off. Professor Flitwick then tells us at the end of class that this will be the charm we work on for the next two weeks. "If anyone completes it perfectly before then they may work on the review that is also due in two weeks." As he finishes speaking the bell rings and we head out to our last class for the day.

I walk in pace with Daphnee to Astronomy and as we sit waiting for class she asks me if she can come along to the study session. I nod at her kind of relieved that a more upbeat slytherin would join us. Astronomy just ends up being review and I sit quietly as kids point out all the stars from last year. It's easy for most of us and one of the Hufflepuff girls seems just as bored as I am. I pass her a note asking if she already knows all of this as well. She looks back at me surprised that I would send her a note before responding "I'm muggle born and my father is an astronomer. I could do this class in my sleep." I now understand why she's surprised, Slytherins generally don't get along with muggle borns. I ignore the nagging feeling that I shouldn't talk to her in case I do have to spy but I decide if I ever do have to I can say I was only trying to ensure the school in whole trusts me. I send back a note "That's cool, I bet it really helps to have a class that's really easy." The class went on with me and her passing notes. I learned that her name was Cynthia Waybright and that she is an only child. At the end of class she nods at me before leaving the room. I walked out a few minutes later with Daphnee talking excitedly about me teaching a study session. At dinner we eat quickly and head to the library early.

Once arriving I take out a bunch of parchment and crumple up ten balls. At place them around the table. Soon people begin arriving and the table fills with some Gryffindors and hufflepuffs. I introduce myself "My name is Lotus Snape and I'll be helping you at this study session. If you have any questions feel free to ask." I look around and am not surprised to see Neville longbottom sitting there. I also recognized Cynthia from Hufflepuff and I send her a smile. I point at my own crumpled up parchment and demonstrate as I turn it into a bat. I then instruct everyone to try. One by one they all got it before I moved on and told them to change it to a match box and notice that this is where they are struggling. I instruct them to imagine it first just like I did in my own class and watch as they all eventually get it. I look up at the clock and see it's only seven. I then tell everyone they can all leave once they can put a hogwarts crest on their boxes. A few get it easily after having been able to change it into a matchbox and I let them leave. One of the Gryffindor's however smirks at me before putting down the hogwarts crest with only the three houses excluding Slytherin. He calls me over and is obviously trying to upset me. I simply point my wand at his matchbox and turn it back to a crumpled ball of parchment and tell him to start over. His smirk falls. No one else tries to mess with me and soon everyone is done except for the one Gryffindor. As Neville left he handed me an envelope that I assume is from the Weasley twins and I place it in my bag. I tell Daphne that I'll be done in a few minutes and that she can head off to the common rooms and that I'll meet her latter. She nods understanding I want to talk to the boy alone.

As soon as she leaves I sit across from the Gryffindor boy. "So what's your name?" "Dean Thomas" he mutters at me. Right now he's re making his matchbox. "Look I think we got off on the wrong foot, I don't know what I did to upset you but when I'm taking my own time to help others it's just plain rude to purposely try to irritate me while I'm helping." He looks up at me before spitting out "First of all you're a Slytherin, not to mention you were rude to Neville in potions, don't you think your Professor Snape is mean enough to the poor boy as it is." I look at him and calmly listen before responding "My house is not who I am, it's simply some of traits I possess. I'm cunning, resourceful and ambitious, none of those traits make me a bad person. Stigmas associated with houses benefit no one. Besides how many Slytherins have to be mean to others to make up for the prejudiced remarks and bullying solely because of their house. And ad for Neville Longbottom I simply said what I had to during the class. I made a single comment on how pale he went. Besides that is what my peers would expect of me, I will not ostracize myself from my own house. And you probably also failed to notice that I showed him how to properly do all of the steps. You only noticed what you wanted to in order to fit me into the all Slytherin are bad stigma." I pause before adding "I told people to put the Hogwarts crest on their matchboxes rather than instructing everyone to put their houses crest because I wanted to promote school unity. When you purposely didn't put Slytherin on your matchbox I was hurt because for once I was doing something that I thought could make us all get along even if only for little while and it was thrown in my face." I look down and see he had finished making the matchbox and just needs to add the crest. I look down at it and inform him "You can add whatever you want to it." and with that I got up and began to leave. I hear him call out my name and I turn around to see him holding up his finished matchbox and it had the School crest on it. "Look, I'm sorry, I guess not all Slytherins are that bad." We both then leave and head out to our own dormitories.

As I enter my common room Daphne skips over to me and asks how it went. I smile at her and notice that she kept he matchbox from the study session and had it on a necklace chain. I smile slightly at her. "Not bad, he was kind of upset over what I said in potions but I think we're ok now." She smiles at me before dragging me to our dorm. Pansy and Millie are out so we have the room to ourselves for now. Daphne bites her lip before blurting out "I know you're not as mean as you let on, you can be cruel with your words and you like to mess with people but I know you want all the houses to get along." I simply quirk an eyebrow at her "To the Slytherin you act more like what's expected but in the little things you do you force the houses to get along more. I mean you made us make the School Crest." I look over at the girl and realize that she truly is resourceful and very perceptive. "You're right in a lot of ways, but you can't tell anyone from our house" She nods at me before dropping her voice. "My parents support the Dark Lord and I know that we can't openly do a lot but I want to help." I look at the girl and go over and sit with her on her bed so if anyone comes in they won't hear our conversation. "We both know he's coming back, sooner or latter. He normally won't put the dark mark on children but if that happens you must act the follower, you can't let anyone know you don't truly support him. If anyone asks you need to act like you fully believe in the cause." I try to put as much seriousness into my voice as possible. She nods at me before whispering back "I know, and that's why I want to help you get the houses to support each other more. I know some of us don't believe what our parents believe. If we weren't so separated from other houses they wouldn't only hear their parents praise of You-Know-Who." I look at her before correcting her "Dark Lord, you must always refer to him as the Dark Lord when talking to Slytherins. Even me if you ever let it slip people will notice. Supporters always refer to him as the Dark Lord." She nods at me one last time. I quickly add "I'm going to try and set up a tutoring group for all houses and I can find people with strengths in certain subjects to teach study groups. I'm planning it out in secret and we can talk about it tomorrow. Don't tell anyone yet though." With that I head back over to my bed and shortly after I sit down Pansy and Millie walk in. I tell everyone good night and hop into bed. Today was exhausting.


	6. September 3rd, 1992

Once again I wake up bright and early. It's four thirty and I quickly get ready for the day before heading back over to my trunk and empty my bag out. I notice my letter from the Weasley Twins on top and grab it out and set it on my trunk. Next I grab all the stuff I need for classes today. I have History of Magic, Double Charms, Herbology, and Transfiguration today. After I have everything I head up to the main common room. I sit down and glance at the clock. Exactly five. I sigh a little, I wish Curfew let up earlier so I could just find a small alcove to read in. I open up my letter from the twins.

Dear Lotus,

If you still wish to learn the art of trickery and pranks you must successfully reach us in our dorms. Good luck little snake, trying to get into the lion's den. You will need it.

Fred & George

I look at the letter and try to think out a way to accomplish my task. They must think I'm not going to be able to do it. I can only assume they are making it more difficult because I'm slytherin and I try not to let it bug me. I think back to yesterday and the Gryffindors had taken the longest to get to breakfast. They must sleep later. I already know where the entrance to the Gryffindor common room is so I figure I'll just waltz on in and hope no one is up yet. I look at the clock and put the letter away as I wait for six. I would just leave now but after father said he had a ward I don't want to chance it. As the clock strikes six I slip out of the common room with my bag over my shoulder. I walk as quickly as I can to the fat lady portrait and realize I hadn't even thought to find out the password yet. I think back to the letter and remember that lions den was written in a slightly different script. When I reach the portrait I wake the fat lady up and cross my fingers as I tell her lion's den. The portrait swing out on it's hinges and i slip into the room and gently close the entrance. I walk over to the stairs that I assume are the boys if it's set up anything like how Slytherin common rooms are set up. I find a door with a three on it and enter and see beds in Gryffindor colors and tiptoe to the beds next to each other with two identical twins in them. I walk over to one bed and shake the first twin up. I read the trunk and see it's george than I'm waking up and he slowly opens his eyes and looks ready to freak out since I'm in his room. I quickly put my hand over his mouth and make a shushing gesture at him before waking Fred up in the same fashion. I then pull out the letter and smile at them while pointing at it. To my surprise they actually look happy that I figured out how to sneak in. Both boys walk up and link arms with me while dragging me downstairs and out of the common room. As soon as we are out they say in usion "Congratulations you're officially under our mentorship." One then continues on "We honestly didn't think you would be able to do it" The other one then adds "or at least not that fast." I smile at them as they ask what I have the period before dinner today. I quickly glance at my schedule to make sure before telling them I have a free period. They grin and tell me to meet them in the library that period before they turn and head back into their common room.

I end up heading to the great hall to work on my homework for charms before breakfast starts. I mean I know I have two weeks to work on it but I know I'm only going to get busier as the year goes on and I don't want to have to have to worry about not having enough time. I start off on one of the first charms learned in first year. The levitation Charm is done with the incantation of Wingardium leviosa and the wand movement is like a two stretched slightly and flipped on its side. I then use it on my bag with delight. I then wrote I have no difficulty with the spell. I then decide to see how much I can lift with the charm. I point at the Slytherin table and say the incantation with wand movement and can feel the drain almost instantly as the table slowly comes up and hovers about an inch of the floor. I am caught off guard by a slow clapping and notice that father had come in. I lose my concentration and the table falls back to the floor. "I must say, I've never quite seen anyone try and levitate one of the house tables before." I blush slightly as I mutter out "I wanted to see if it would work, It's not practical but it would make a cool trick." He smiles slightly before moving up to the staff table and taking his seat. Shortly after people start to filter in and breakfast starts. Draco strolls over to me and announces "Quidditch tryouts are this weekend and you're going to try out with me." I look at him with a sneer and he quickly continues. "A lot of our Quidditch team graduated last year and Madam Hooch told me that you are an excellent keeper." I look at him with the sneer still in place and get ready to protest when a shadow falls over me. "Not many people trying out for the keeper position this year. I expect you to be there." I look over at Draco and question who it was. "It's Marcus Flint the team captain. I know I'm already guaranteed a spot and if you try out I'm sure you'll get in if you're anything as good as madam Hooch said." He then informs me that from breakfast till noon both days are when tryouts are. I simply nod in dread as I realize I have no way out of this. A flutter of owls come in and place a letter here or there but nothing big. I look at all the owls as they place people letters and I smile slightly. I'd never seen so many owls at once. The bell rings shortly after and I smile at the fact that we have History of Magic. I had already learned that he basically read the textbook and I had already read it and plan on using his class as a free period in his classroom.

I walk to his classroom and greet Cuthbert casually before Correcting myself to Professor Binns when I remember it's during a class time. He greets me back and reminds me of him introducing me to the other ghosts as my birthday present. He then tells me that this weekend we can do it. I think back to this morning and remember I have to go to tryouts. In the morning so I ask if the afternoon will be alrights and he tells me that after I have lunch on saturday he'll meet me in the great hall so we can walk to the other ghosts. I smile and nod as the class begins to fill and he goes into his lecture. Every once in awhile I through my hand into the air and ask a question that I know will make him talk a little more animatedly. I look around and see most of the rom shocked whenever he starts to get more animated and I smile as he notices that none of his students are sleeping. We share the class with Hufflepuffs and I notice Cynthia send me a note "How on earth are you making him not drone on? I think this is the first time I haven't slept in his class." I smile at the note before responding "All you really have to do is show a genuine interest." I then add a "P.S. This is a secret right now but I was thinking of starting a tutoring group that includes all the houses and I know you are really good at Astronomy. I was wondering if I did start it up if you would be willing to spare a night or two a week to help out other students from any house that need help." I pass it over and she looks at me questioningly before passing a note to me right as the bell rings. I open it up as I walk along to Double Charms and read her hasty reply "Yeah that would be okay, your secrets safe with me. And thanks for helping us out yesterday with the whole transfiguration thing" I smile as I put the note away when I arrive to charms.

The board has one simple line on it. Attempt the Skurge charm. It takes me till the end of the first half of class but I finally manage to do the charm without leaving any residue. I look around and notice that nobody else is even close to having mastered the charm. Except for Daphne, she seems to have a knack for Charms. I guess I'm just a fast learner. I mean so far I've picked up on almost everything up rather quickly, except herbology. I had just thought it was natural. I raise my hand, telling him I've mastered the charm and Professor Flitwick comes over and places some of the ecto plasm all over my desk and even puts some on top of my stuff. Before telling my to remove all traces of it. I make my three leaf clover shape and say the incantation. All of the ectoplasm disappears from sight and Professor Flitwick looks slightly surprised before telling me I can work on my homework and practice other charms. I smile before asking "Can a person do multiple levitation charms at once?" he looks at me and seems to be considering it for a few seconds before telling me "If you cast them separately you can have multiple things levitating at a time." I nod my thanks before casting a levitation charm on my desk and chair and allowing myself to hover a good foot off the floor as I pull out a piece of parchment and finish writing about the levitation charm on my homework as well as my progress on it. Daphnee smiles over at me and makes her desk and chair levitate as well. As I continue on my assignment I do however leave out making the Slytherin table levitate. I don't really want anyone other than father to know. I kind of wish he didn't even know. I plan on using it later as a joke of sorts. I mean having one of the large tables suddenly floating off the ground would be down right hilarious. I make sure to keep my desk levitating for the rest of class so I can test out my endurance and notice that compared to levitating the table this morning I could do this all day without even breaking a sweat. As the bell rings I let the chair and desk fall to the floor.

I look over at Daphne and she has a huge smile on her face as she whispers over to me. "Did you see the look on half the classes face when we managed to get our desks to float all period. It was awesome." I nod over at her with a half smile. We continue on to lunch and I decided to ask Daphne if she would want to tutor in Charms and she gives me a look "I thought you would never ask." She then bursts out laughing and I follow suit. When we get to lunch I feel a little bit of dread at having Herbology next. It's my worst subject and I have to work a lot harder than any of my other classes in order to stay an E or above. As I finish lunch the bell rings and I slowly make my way to the greenhouse for herbology. I enter just in time and notice it's one of the classes we share with Gryffindor Just like in potions there is one table where we intertwine and I walk over to see it's Neville. I take a seat as I mutter over to him "I suck at Herbology, how about you?" He looks over at me before responding "I love Herbology, last year I had an O the entire year." I smile at him because unlike in potions he's actually confident. If he could take this confidence over to his other classes he would be an even better wizard. At the front of the class Professor Sprout is reviewing the severing charm before talking about Bowtruckles. We ended up learning that a tree's wood is good for wands if they take up residence in a tree. The last ten minutes of class she passed out a plant to each of the groups and told us that our final for this class will be based on how well we keep our planet alive. I look over at Neville and he's got a huge smile on his face. I mutter to him "What are you smiling at, with my luck with plants it will be dead within a week." He looks over at me and smiles. "I have a whole row of these in my greenhouse back home. Their tricky when first learning but by the end of the year I'll be able to make this bigger than anyone else's plant." I look over at him and decide to ask him "It's kind of a secret right now but I want to start up a tutoring group between all the classes and I was wondering if you would lead study sessions for Herbology" He looks over at me and his smile falters for a bit before asking "Are you sure anyone would listen to me, I mean everyone already says I'm basically a squib." I look over at him and give him as mean a glare as I can and just above a whisper say "Shut up, you're not a squib, everybody learns at different speeds. I won't have one of my friends talking this way. You are smart, I mean look at the ease you have in Herbology and how I struggle in it." He looks over at me in shock before saying "I'll do it, for a friend" I blush slightly at realizing I had slipped and called him my friend. Thankfully none of the Slytherins heard. It's not that I'm ashamed of him but I need to get the houses together slowly. If I were to openly just hang out with a Gryffindor right now it would ruin my chances. I half smile at him before whispering "I'll be your partner in potions all the time if you be my partner in Herbology." He looks over and smiles shaking his head. He waters our plant and places it in the sun as the bell rings. I walk over next to Daphne and we walk out and head out to our last class for the day, Transfiguration.

Me and Daphne are both early and as we take our seats next to one another Professor McGonagall walks over. "Thank you for having helped out the other second years Ms. Snape and Ms. Greengrass." She then looks at Daphnee before continuing "I heard you joined them and assisted Ms. Snape in the study session." Daphne blushed before saying "I just figured I could use the review as well." With that Professor McGonagall heads to the front. The class fills in she starts a lecture on turning small insects into buttons. She then passes out beetles and tells us that we have a till the end of October to succeed in this as well as a list of side assignments that are easier because they don't involve live animals. I look over the list and notice things like "Quill to teacup" and "Robe to teddybear." I take the beetle and attempt to turn it into a button. For the most part it works other than there are legs coming off the button. Shortly after the bell rings and I grab Daphne before she can leave and she waits for everyone else to leave with me. I walk up to Professor McGonagall and ask "Professor, after the study session you asked me to do I had come up with an idea for a study group of sorts. I was thinking about asking students who are particularly good in certain subjects to lead these study sessions but I was wondering if you know of any students in our grade that are particularly good in transfiguration." She looks at me and Daphne standing there before saying "Hermione Granger is quite skilled in my class." She then continues on "If you don't mind me asking who all have you gotten for this study group idea." I smile having expected her to ask "Well I intend on helping out in Potions along with supervising the whole session. I have asked Cynthia Waybright, a Hufflepuff, if she would be the lead for Astronomy because she is extremely skilled in the subject. I've asked Neville Longbottom, one of your lions, to take the lead for Herbology. Last but not least I have asked Daphne here to lead charms as she is by far one of the best in my class. I want to find at least one person per subject but I plan on setting it up so that once it's started I want to try and get some older students to stop in occasionally to help. By my seventh year, ideally, I will have it set up so that all grades are included and that it will be able to continue even after I'm gone." Professor McGonagall looks approving that I have been getting students from other houses involved and then says "When you have this all setup I would like to know and I will help you should you need it." I nod at her before me and Daphnee head out.

"So we have two free periods till supper, wanna work on planning this whole thing out?" I nod at her before saying "I can only stay the first free period though. I'm meeting up with a couple of kids before dinner." She nods at me before we head down to the library and start planning. I pull out some parchment so that we can write down our ideas. I think we should find a ravenclaw for history of magic so that we have tutors from all the houses. Oh and I don't think we will need one for DADA right now because the teacher is an egotistical idiot that's not even going to teach us." Daphne nods before adding "Luna Lovegood is a first year Ravenclaw, she knows a lot about history because her father writes the quibbler and so she knows a lot about current events and the past ones." I nod at her and write it down. "We could see about getting permission to set it up in the great hall so that it's in a neutral area. I mean I would have said the library but it will most likely get too loud." Daphne then adds "Plus we can hang up posters in all the common rooms by asking our tutors to put them up." We smile at eachother and I tell her we can work on it tomorrow afternoon before saying goodbye as Daphne heads out. I just remain sitting until I see the two red haired twins walk in. The both pull out chairs on either side of me and sit down.

"How's our little snake this afternoon?" I smile at them as we all put our heads together as they start to tell me about their plans to eventually have a joke shop. "Plus you get to be our product tester." I look at them with a deathly glare and respond "You want me to be your Guinea pig" They both look a little sheepish before replying "Essentially yes, but you're the only person we know that would keep it secret from not only the teachers but other kids to. How bout we sweeten the deal, not only do you get to test all our new products but we'll even show you the secret passages in Hogwarts." I smile up at them "You have a deal." They talk about new ideas while I simply sit and listen. I end up leaving early so I can make it to dinner before the rest of my year. At dinner I listen to Draco rant on about Harry Potter and try to ignore it. Draco's not a bad guy but he tends to focus on anyone thing to vent so I never comment on it. Daphne pokes me hard in the shoulder and then whispers in my ear "I asked Luna Lovegood and she said she would." I smile at Daphne and tell her "That's great." We then switch to talking about our classes in general. She really likes charms and to my surprise hates potions even though she's decent at it. After dinner we both decide to head to our common room to get ready for our mandatory study session.

At a quarter to nine we head out to the common rooms to meet up with the rest of the 2nd years for our study session. We get out and find everyone talking around the table already. I look around and notice nobody has their stuff out. I don't say anything until it's eight. "Time for our study session. What do you guys want to work on?" Everyone looks over at me before Blaise speaks up "Why should we even bother studying. It's the beginning of the year. Besides as long as we sit around here talking no one will know." I smirk at him before starting in on him "With an attitude like that you're likely to set yourself up for failure." I smirk even more and add "Don't look now but Professor Snape is standing behind you." I watch as he jumps out of his seat and starts apologizing "I'm so sorry Professor Snape, I was only joking." I laugh as he realizes no one was there and then nearly lose it when I realize father had walked in right as he had jumped up and started apologizing to thin air. Blaise looks white as a ghost when he realizes I had tricked him and then Professor Snape actually came in as he was apologizing. "Mr. Zabini to what do you believe you must apologize for." Blaise looks down at his shoes realizing he's in trouble regardless. I watch with a smirk as father gets impatient and turns over to me "Ms. Snape what exactly is going on?" I look up to him as I answer in a bored yet still respectful tone "Blaise didn't think we should be studying during our study session and I informed him that not doing so would be setting himself up for failure. When he still didn't seem to understand I implied you were standing behind him so that he would be more inclined to study if he believed he would be in trouble for not doing so." Father nods before glaring at Blaise "Detention tomorrow night with Flitch, head to his office immediately after dinner tomorrow." Blaise gulps and nods as father continues his rounds of the common room. After that the study session goes relatively smoothly other than the occasional glares from Blaise and Pansy. As soon as our study session is over I pack up my stuff and head to bed.


	7. September 4th, 1992

I roll out of bed and start my usual morning routine. I'm careful not to wake anyone after I'm done and packing my bag. I grab out my potions materials and pack them for double potions this morning. I also grab the stupid book that's supposedly all about our idiotic professor. Not that he could even do half the things he claims. I also grab out my book on occlumency and decide that I'll work on reading it every morning before heading out to the great hall. Once I'm there I want to keep the book hidden in case anyone see's so I figure I'll stick to my homework in the great hall. From what I've already read on Occlumency what I did to father when we first met was called redirection where you push the person to a certain memory or faked memory. However based on when he showed me the two types it was by far the more subtle way he had used and so it wouldn't take as much effort as if he was tearing through my mind. As I close my trunk I notice that Daphne is getting out of bed rubbing her eyes. She then looks over at me fully ready for the day before muttering "Jeez do you even sleep" I whisper an apology but she ignores it before asking "Why do you get up so early anyway?" I just shrug and respond "Early riser" She nods before falling back into her pillow saying a muffled goodnight. I quickly exit our dorm and head up to the common room and begin reading while I wait for six to roll around. I head out at exactly six and go to the Great Hall and take my seat. I take out my charms homework and get started on the next spell. It's just the wand lighting spell and I get through it rather easily before the great hall starts filling up for breakfast. I quickly eat a couple of grapes and hop up happily, today's double potions first thing. Heading out I end up being the first in the potions classroom and I smile as read the board. She could hardly wait to start brewing.

The classroom filled around her and she looked up when she saw Neville standing unsure by the seat next to her. Honestly they had made a deal, did he expect her to take it back? She didn't want him to get in trouble for still standing when her father came in so she sneered out "Longbottom, are you going to sit or just hover over our desk all class?" He took it as a confirmation as he took a seat next to her right as father walked in. He immediately started in on the lesson and soon they all were given the go ahead to brew. Once again she took out double the ingredients and showed Neville exactly how to do everything and this time she even used some of his better prepared ingredients in the potion. They were the first done and she decided to take pity on the boy and instead brought the potion up to the desk. Father was moving from stable to table at people's potions when suddenly the youngest male weasley yelped in pain as his cauldron bubbled over. Harry's yelp of pain followed immediately after as both boys were covered in their blue potion that could have ben violet. She watched as father quickly banished the potions before barking at the class that had all stopped to stare to keep watch of their own potions before looking at her and Neville. "Ms. Snape and Mr. Longbottom Since you are the only ones done you will escort these two to the infirmary." Lotus simply nodded as Neville seemed to be out of it a little from being spoken directly to by her father. Snapping her fingers in front of her face she directed him to help Harry while she helped Ron. As soon as they were out of the classroom she looked at the two injured boys before pointing her wand at them. All three gryffindors tensed but she simply muttered Wingardium Leviosa twice on both boy's clothes explaining with a shrug "I'm certainly not strong enough to try helping lift you up stares when you can barely stand on your own. People can't be charmed to float hence needing brooms to fly so instead i cast it on your clothes so they can make you light enough that I don't need to lift anywhere near as much effort. Honestly you looked like I was going to hex you while you were down." I then turned and started leading the way with one of Ron's arms as over her shoulder. Once we made it to the infirmary I lightly knock before pushing the door open, As soon as we enter I notice a note left from Madam Pomfrey saying she would be back after lunch and that in an emergency to floo call dumbledore's office. Ignoring it she directs Neville to help them up onto the beds as she heads over to the potions cupboard and grabs out some burn cream and anti itch spray. "You guys need to have Burn cream rubbed on every spot the potion touched you and it should clear up in half an hour. As soon as it's cleared up based on the potions properties you will be left with a rash. For that you just need to spray some anti itch spray on yourselves and you'll be good to go." The two injured boys still looked at her rather suspiciously whereas Neville took the burn cream from her hands and started placing it on the boys. I pull out a piece of parchment and began to write a note to Madam Pomfrey explaining the incident and what I used to help them before placing it on her desk.

"Well it looks to have cleared up enough to use the anti itch spray. I know you both probably still feel some pain but I'm afraid I don't want to get in trouble for giving someone that type of potion as they can be dangerous if you don't get the exact dosage." As I spray them with the anti itch I can't help but feel slightly annoyed that they botched such an easy potion. I sigh as I finish and place the items back in the poisons cupboard. "It would probably be best if the three of you wait for Madam Pomfrey just to be sure." Ron snorted "And why can't you wait up here?" With a shrug I respond "Because somebody needs to inform Professor Snape and you and Harry need to stay here so that leaves me or Neville. Class will be letting out in five minutes so by the time Whoever makes it down there Professor Snape will be alone. I was trying to be considerate because Neville here seems to shake like a leaf when near father. Somebody needs to tell him because since madam Pomfrey's note says after lunch it would be much easier for Snape to just flew up here and check you himself so you can make it to your next class. Although if you have DADA next like me you would probably rather not go. The teachers a total fake and he's only famous because for some Merlin Forsaken reason people find him attractive." Before giving them a chance to respond she turns on her heel and left. She went at a brisk walk before finally making it back to the classroom just as the bell rang. She waited for the class to clear out before explaining to her father before the two of them flooded into the infirmary. As soon as he made it he double checked them before saying they would be fine and to wait for Madam Pomfrey to clear them just before he was about to give me and Neville a late pass for DADA I speak up. "Professor, Neville and I are so worried about Harry and Ron hear, Would it be at all possible for you to excuse us from our next class assuming we make up whatever we miss." Father looked down at me realizing I had DADA next before responding "Very well , You and may stay with these two." With that he turned robes Billowing before flooing back to his next a smirk I open up my bag and grab out a blank piece of parchment and decide to write down everything I know about how I plan on setting up my study group. Writing out each subject I scrawl out the subjects study group leader. Astronomy - Cynthia Waybright, Charms - Daphne Greengrass, Defence Against the Dark Arts - Not needed yet, Herbology - Neville Longbottom, History of Magic - Luna Lovegood, Potions - me and Transfiguration - Still need to ask Hermione Granger. As i write i can't help but feel all three boys stare at me. "What?" I bite out annoyed because I'm trying to work on something. Neville stuttered out "Y-you got Professor Snape to let us skip class" I roll my eyes before responding "Only because we are better off not listening to the imbecile of a teacher, You haven't met him yet but he is an ignoramus and I am almost certain even I could do a better job teaching than him." Ron mumbled under his breath "Yeah I'm sure you being Snape's daughter you know all about the dark arts." I glare daggers at the boy before writing out a letter to Hermione asking her if she would be interested in an all house study group along with a message to please not tell others about it until it's set up. "Well seems as how I prefer not to have to listen to people talk badly about my father I must be going. Neville, do you think you could give a letter to Ms. Granger for me? It's about what I was talking to you about in Herbology." Neville nodded as he took the letter before waving as I left. As soon as I was out of the room I headed for my room in the teachers area. Once inside I went into my bedroom and put a silencing charm on my room before crying.

How would I ever be able to promote house unity? Especially when people have no qualms about speaking badly of one another or their families. If he had said something about me I would have just been able to easily brush it off. But Seriously, he had to sit there and talk about my father in front of me. The first person I've ever truly felt comfortable around. The crying starts to slowly die down before I head into my bathroom and look in the mirror I look like utter crap and my face is as blotchy as all hell. Wiping my face off I hop in the shower. Something about sitting under the water always seemed to wash away my worries. I used to love sitting out in the rain, even if i did usually catch a cold after since I had no way to dry myself off. Once I'm out of the shower I start to get ready for lunch. I have no more classes for the day but Father specifically had the second year Slytherin Schedule line up with his so that my free periods on Friday afternoons where at the same time as his sixth and seventh year double periods. I head down to the Great Hall in a much better mood and when I enter I take a quick glance at the Gryffindor Table and notice Hermione reading my letter. In a casual fashion I walk up to her table just as she finishes reading. "Hello Neville, Ms. Granger. I know that you just got the chance to read the letter but I would greatly appreciate if you could give me an answer know so that I can move forward with my plans." Hermione looked up at me before responding "I think it's a great idea, If you don't mind me asking, who all is in on it?" I notice the stress of a fair amount of Gryffindors on me since I'm a slytherin near their table so I respond vaguely "Neville for one, I can tell you more about it at our first meeting, I plan on telling everyone everything in more detail then. This Sunday afternoon will be the first meeting. I'm going around and telling everyone right now." She nods and Neville gives a friendly "See you then" as I leave there table. Next I went to the Slytherin table and told Daphne, who in turn told Luna while I told Cynthia. Once everyone was told I decided I wasn't really hungry and walked out of the hall without eating.

I make my way to Father potions classroom and went to the darkest corner in the back so that I could watch everything without any of the older students seeing me. To my surprise Father walks in shortly after me. There was still at least a half an hour till class starts. "Why aren't you eating in the Great Hall?" He says in a surprisingly stern voice. "I wasn't hungry" I say with a shrug. "All you had for breakfast was three grapes and you find it acceptable to skip lunch." I cringe slightly at the tone of his voice as I respond "I never really ate much and so sometimes it hurts if I eat too much so I just don't." His eyes softened slightly as he looked down at me "I'll brew you a nutrients potion and as long as you take it as well as eating at least a handful of food a day it will make you able to start eating properly. Although it does explain why you look like a twig." Indignantly I sputter out "I do not look like a twig, hmph" I watched as he got a slight smirk on his face before laughing at me. Soon I'm laughing to and we quickly pull it together before anyone where to walk in on the unusual scene. Father then heads up to his desk as I Hide back in the corner of the room as his sixth year class starts. I understood most of the basics of what they were doing but found multiple times I would get lost even with taking notes on everything he said. The seventh year class was even harder but I figured I would start working ahead in potions so that I could get up to at least a fourth or fifth years level so that I would be able to understand everything better. Soon his classes for the day where over and as soon as the last student left I practically bombarded him with questions. We ended up talking for hours along with father recommending several potions books to read before next friday. Overall it had been a great day. I shiver slightly at having to try out for the Quidditch team tomorrow, at least I get to meet the other ghosts later in the day.


	8. September 5th, 1992

The next morning I'm out the door of my room in teachers quarters at exactly six once again. Today was going to be a long day and I have to get a head start if I want to get everything done. Making my way to the library I quickly search for some books on Quidditch and the Keeper Position. After all if I was being forced to try out I may as well learn the terminology. I still don't want to fly, no feet belong on firmly the floor. In fact reading up on it is part of my coping method for the tryouts. I end up staying in the library until breakfast. Standing from my table I walk slower than normal to get to breakfast, I don't want to fly. Every other thought keeps trailing back to the fact I don't want to fly. When I finally take my seat by Draco he's going on and on about the tryouts and how his father got a special present for the Slytherin team.  
"Lotus, How are you not excited?" With a glare in his direction I respond icily, "It seems you fail to remember that I had no intention of trying out for anything, nor had I shown any interest before you insisted I try out." I watch him shiver back and can't help the smirk that forms on my face as he responds back in a quiet voice "You know, you can tell who your father is when you act like that." With that he stood and put on a cheery smile "We better get out to the pitch before we're late." Following him out to the pitch we watch as Marcus announces "The only position currently available is for Keepers, Anyone who hasn't been told they have a spot already can try out for it. Know to cut out anyone who won't be good for the spot…"

Before anyone knew what was going on he and the other guaranteed members including Draco sent curse after curse at the rest of us. Ducking to the ground and dodging my mind reels. It's a test, if we can avoid multiple spells at close range we should have enough dexterity to block the quaffle. I almost decide to purposely get hit so I don't have to try out but watching a kid I vaguely recall being called Bletchley cough up bugs I decided against it. Just as abruptly as it started it stopped and Marcus was smiling "Well it looks like we have three finalist. Looking to my sides I see a boy that looks just a little older than me and a boy who was probably a sixth or seventh year. "Now we'll do individual tests." I watched as the each went up and the team threw quaffle after quaffle at the hoops making it until they ran out. "42 out of 60, so about two out of every three. Next." The other boy went up with 29 out of 60 before being cut. It was finally my turn. Mounting my broom I flew up to the first hoop and when they started I purposely missed every single quaffle before saying "Oh. it's a shame. Seems I'm not cut out for this." Marcus simply gave me a sloppy smirk as he pulled out a familiar book. It was my copy of Potions for Teenage Witches. One of the first things I ever received from Father, my blood was boiling. I don't know how he got ahold of it but I would make him regret it. Immediately reaching for my wand to get my book back Marcus laughs "If you so much as reach for your wand any more I'll burn your book to a crisp with a simple incendio. Now, actually try." Seeing red I fl up to the goal hoops. "57 out of 60, I think we have our new keeper." He tossed my book into the air and I immediately dived for it while drawing my wand momentarily forgetting my fear of flying as I repeat the spell Incendio that he had mentioned watching with a sickening glee as the boy screamed out as his hand caught flame before jumping from my broom. Clutching my book I hold back my tears as I let my fury take over. "Don't ever threaten to torch my things again or there will be hell to pay." I can feel my magic cracking around me and I have all I can do to rein it in. Looking at Marcus I see him clutching his hand and I can't help but feel disgusted with myself, I had never harmed anyone before and even worse I had liked how it made me feel powerful.

Pushing away my awful thoughts I say in a forced cheerfulness, "Now get over here so I can put some burn cream on that." Opening up my bag II pull out several vials before I come to the one labeled Burn Paste. I had taken to carrying around at least one vial of all the useful potions I could brew. Besides with a shrinking charm and feather light charm go a long way to making it so I could basically carry however many things I wanted to. But I'm getting away from the point. Popping the cork out of the vial I tip it over and get a generous amount before putting it on Marcus's hand. "Lotus?" he questioned and I responded with a simple "Yes?"

"Why do you hate the idea of playing for our team so much?" For a second I was truly shocked and I know he saw it pass over my features. "I don't dislike the idea of playing for the Slytherin Team, I love our house." He quipped back almost immediately "Then how come you don't want to be our Keeper?" Sighing I mutter "As hard as it is for someone like yourself to understand not everyone likes flying on a broom." His eyes widen for a second before he responds "You're afraid of flying." Lightly smacking him upside the head I mutter "Not so loud." He nods before saying "You have to admit though, you're still really good, We could use you on our team." It takes me a second to realise he's offering me a way out before I snap at him "Of course I'm going to do it, You Blackmailed me to perfection and that's something I can respect." In a harsher tone I continue "But if you ever so much as try it again you'll end up with much worse than a burn and I most certainly be healing it after."  
With a grin Marcus called out to the rest of the team "We meet up tomorrow at the same time for practice, you're all dismissed." With that we walked as a group into the great hall. Eating quickly I leave for the teachers common room. After all I got to meet the other ghosts today. I couldn't wait. Other than Cuthbert I hadn't seen many of them since I came , I had seen Nearly Headless nick at the Gryffindor Table once or twice but had never talked to him and I had Seen the Bloody Baron Once During the Sorting feast. I was beyond excited and ended up making it there in record time.

"Ah, Lotus, I thought you might end up a little early." Cuthbert said in place of a greeting. With a grin I respond " But of course I'm early, how could I not be with such a spectacular gift to look forward to?" We end up walking corridor after corridor until eventually we come to a room in the dungeons. "I invited all the ghosts to come, a little note though, it's considered very rude to ask how someone died." With a nod of my head he floats through the door and I follow after opening it for myself.

Inside countless ghosts mil about and I can't help the huge grin on my face, I mean imagine all the knowledge from times before my own that they must contain. Imagine all the dirty little secrets that still affect us today, or could shatter someone's own beliefs. Cuthbert motion me forward into the group and starts to introduce ghost after ghost. I'm completely lost with how many of the names I recognize from my History of Magic coursework. Other's I've never even heard of. Eventually I find myself talking to a group of "young" ghosts that must have died earlier on in life. Elizabeth and Eliza were twins who seemed just as close as the weasleys. There was also Daiman the Devious, or so he called himself, A bright girl named Catherine, and a grinning boy who was named Leon. Elizabeth and Eliza had realised I wasn't going to ask how they died and It led to them telling me about it.  
"You see once upon a time, e all went to hogwarts together. This was way back when the founders were still alive, in fact each of us was the pupil of each of the founders. Eliza and I where the pupils to Helga Hufflepuff, Leon to Godric Gryffindor, Damian to Salazar Slytherin, and last but not least Catherine to Rowena Ravenclaw. Back when we started school the forbidden Forest was just known as the forest. In fact our deaths were what made it so forbidden. You see we all got into a competition to see which house was the greatest, we were only mere 5th years and we thought we could do anything, after all we where pupils to the founders themselves."

At this point Eliza takes over the story "We each swore we would not return until we had finished a scavenger hunt of sorts, We each needed to get the hair of a unicorn, The hoofprint of a centaur, A hippogriff feather and a Thestrals tear. We each had to went our own ways to collect the items. But none of us came back the same. We each had gotten two of four things before our luck ran out. So here we are now."  
Damian Grunted out "More like, Here we've been for what feels like forever." Leon mock whispered, "He's just having that time of the month." In an exasperated tone Damian replied "For the last time, Males don't get that time of the month and I'm not a lycanthrope either. So why don't you stop being annoying for once." Catherine grinned "You two know you argue like a married couple." Both boy's turned with a humph and I couldn't help but laugh. They all turned to me as if they had forgotten I was still standing there.  
"Man, I hope when I die I'm this energetic and interesting." With that we all dissolve into giggles. I wonder why not many of the ghosts ever venture to the more frequented parts of the castle. Not realizing I had said it out loud I got answered by Cathrine, "Why meet people and grow attached to them when a mere seven years later we'll likely never see them again?" Damian chipped in "It gets frustrating and makes us upset" With as bright a smile I can pull of I respond "Well, I just so happen to be a ward of Hogwarts, so I'll definitely be here for more than seven years."  
Shortly after we parted when it was time for dinner and so I left with a wave and a promise that I would visit them again. Heading up to the great hall I feel exhausted after everything that happened so I eat quickly before heading up to our dorms with Daphnee. We talk about the plans for the study group for a few minutes before she sends me to bed after my second yawn even though I insisted I wasn't tired. Overall, Today had been a pretty good day.


End file.
